A 21-YEAR-OLD man who raped a semi-conscious woman after strangling has been jailed for eight years.

Abdi Waise, of Forest Road, Edmonton, mounted his attack on a woman he saw at a bus stop in the early hours of August 11 last year.

The young woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was going home after a night shift.

She walked off after he tried to talk to her, but he followed her and lured her into the communal entrance of a block of flats.

Once inside, he attacked her, strangling her until she fell to the ground unconscious.

When she came round, he brutally raped her.

Waise pleaded guilty to rape at Wood Green Crown Court last Wednesday and was sentenced the same day (check).

Police caught him two days after the attack after CCTV tapes showed him running away from the scene, disguarding a condom, which was then seized and tested for DNA traces.

Forensic experts also found Waise’s fingerprints at the crime scene.

The woman phoned police when she escaped and went to North Middlesex Hospital, in Sterling Way, Upper Edmonton, to be treated for strangulation and other injuries.

Police said Waise initially denied any involvement in the attack, saying the overwhelming evidence led him to change his plea to guilty some months later.

DC Bryan Field, investigating officer from Project Sapphire, the specialist unit dedicated to investigating rape, said: “Thankfully stranger attacks like this are extremely rare. Waise is a dangerous man and he has been given a substantial sentence of eight years for his horrific attack against this young female. I would like to pay tribute to the bravery of the victim throughout the last few months; she has been through a terrible ordeal.

“I would also like to thank the forensic science officers and the CCTV officers on Enfield borough for their excellent work in bringing this man to justice. Hopefully the sentence of Abdi Waise will help the victim to move on with her life.”