An Indian scholarship student, Preet Vikal has been sentenced to six years and nine months by Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke on June 18 for raping a young woman in the UK. He would be serving two-thirds of the sentence in custody and the remainder on licence. Notably, the hearing was attended by the victim.
The police stated that 20-year-old Preet Vikal carried the woman to his flat in Cardiff, United Kingdom and raped her in June 2022. Vikal was seen carrying an extremely drunk young woman to his halls of residence before he raped her, as per the CCTV footage that has emerged recently. According to the Cardiff Crown Court, Preet Vikal took a ‘trophy photograph’ of the victim in his bed before attacking her, as per the UK-based media outlet.
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The court sentenced six years and nine months of imprisonment to Preet Vikal after the latter admitted to rape. As per the court orders, the Indian student was sent to young offenders’ institution.
The woman stated that, after the horrific incident last June, she was unable to sleep for months.
After coming out of the club, initially, the woman started walking towards her home but after some time she got separated from her friends and was later captured on CCTV being carried by Vikal along King Edward VII Avenue and North Road. Vikal took her to a property located in the North Road area where he raped the woman.
Preet Vikal comes from a village north of Delhi, India. As per his lawyers’ statement, he is a young man who worked extremely hard, so much so that he won a scholarship to support his study in engineering, according to the UK-based Daily Mail. He was the first in his family to go to university, and the first in his village to go overseas and study.
Police stated that an “extensive” trawl of CCTV made it possible to identify and arrest Vikal. The accused will serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody and the remaining period on licence.