A MENTALLY ill man who burned down a house in his native Latvia before trying to rape a woman in Hull should never have been let into the UK, his victim has said.
Rolands Brize, 26, was given a life sentence yesterday for an horrific attack on a young woman as she walked home from a Hull nightclub in the early hours of March 9 last year.
He had been detained in a Latvian mental hospital for nine months after the arson attack and has since been diagnosed as having paranoid schizophrenia and organic dissocial personality disorder.
But he travelled to Britain with his mother, who was looking for work, in 2009 and was living in a hostel in Hull when he attacked the woman in the street and tried to rape her.
His victim, who had to wait more than a year for justice, said: "With his background and what's happened in Latvia, I feel he should not have been let into the country. There's got to be something done – it's like there's no control at all."
Brize must serve a minimum of four years but will not be released until he is no longer considered a risk to the public.
His victim was so traumatised when police found her that she lay in the foetal position, rocking backwards and forwards, unable to speak.It took a female police officer ten minutes to calm the woman down before she could even be moved from the place where she was found, exhausted and injured, with Brize on top of her.
Her underwear was exposed and Brize was fumbling with his trousers.
The judge who sentenced him to life in prison yesterday said he had no doubt she would have been raped if two police officers had not arrived when they did.
Judge Mark Bury told Brize: "This was an extremely serious offence of its kind.
"The victim was a young woman, a stranger to you, and you followed her and made a determined attempt to grab her before returning, stealthily, to the scene.
"You used force to drag her to a quiet place where you could rape her undetected. But for the arrival of the police, you would have committed rape in a public place.
"It's highly likely you would have used further violence on your victim if she continued to put up a struggle."
After meeting friends from university for a drink, the woman, who was in her early 20s, left Hull's Sugar Mill nightclub at about 2.30am and began walking along Castle Street, where she tried calling her boyfriend to arrange a lift home. She was unable to contact him.
At around the same time, Brize was seen on CCTV trying get into the same club but he was refused entry, probably because he was drunk.
Shortly afterwards, as the woman continued walked along Myton Bridge, she became aware of a "mumbling" sound behind her.
It was Brize and, as he got nearer, he put his arms around her and tried to pick her up to put her on her back.
Terrified, she managed to push him away but he tried again before the woman fought him off.
Brize then walked away as the woman made a desperate 999 call to police. She was still talking to a call handler when he struck a third time with such force that she could not resist and was dragged along the street, her screams being heard by the operator.
Phillip Evans, prosecuting, called a recording of the call "extremely harrowing".
But PCs Clark and Suffield were quickly on the scene in their patrol car, and following the woman's shoes and handbag, which were strewn across the path, rescued the woman and arrested Brize.
While he begins a life sentence, which begins in a mental hospital, his victim is still coming to terms with her ordeal.
She suffered horrific injuries to her legs as a result of being dragged across concrete and will be scarred for life.
The psychological damage was also extensive. From being a bright and outgoing person, she is now afraid of strangers and suffers nightmares and flashbacks.
But she had the courage to attend court on almost a dozen occasions before she was finally able to see justice delivered.
Speaking after yesterday's hearing at Hull Crown Court, the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said: "It's the first time I did not actually look at him. I feel better for not seeing his face.
"I feel happy with what he's been given. I feel he has to be treated, but then he's going to be punished as well because he's going to be sent to prison."
She would like to see Brize deported but feels elated that, with her attacker behind bars, that part of her ordeal is over.
"It's the most amazing feeling," she said. "It's my birthday on Saturday and I'm planning a weekend away and a few days off work.
"Every time it's happened (attending court) it's reliving it all. The past few days I haven't eaten anything, I've lost four pounds.
"I'm not going to have that any more. It's never going to 100 per cent gone, but time is the best healer."
Judge: Sentencing delay added to distress
JUDGE Mark Bury called it a "scandal" after the sentencing of Rolands Brize was delayed for an 11th time last month.
It meant his traumatised victim had to wait more than a year for justice.
She said she felt the justice system was unfairly balanced in favour of defendants at the expense of victims, and the judge said he had some sympathy with her yesterday.
"It appears, doesn't it, that the delay that's taken place in this case has added to her distress," Judge Bury said.
"Your honour, to put it mildly," replied prosecutor Phillip Evans.
Judge Bury said: "While that's not the fault of the defendant, it's a fact she has had to wait more than a year and she, with some justification it seems to me, takes the view that the system is more designed to suit the defendant than the victim."
The delays were blamed on a range of issues, from "in-fighting" in the NHS over who was responsible for Brize, and who would therefore pay for his treatment, to delays in his psychological assessments, a shortage of beds in secure units and a shortage of translators.
His victim believes more than £150,000 has been spent on private medical care for Brize so far, while she is on an NHS waiting list for the treatment she needs for injuries he caused.
She will be scarred for life and requires plastic surgery, but only had her first consultation in the last fortnight, she said.
Judge Bury called the delays "unjustifiable" and towards the end of his sentencing remarks said: "There's a clear public interest in ensuring sufficient resources are available in good time to maintain public confidence in the treatment of mentally distressed defendants, so they and victims of crime are not further damaged by the court process."
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