The CCTV footage and an Instagram message exchange between him and the victim led to Vikal’s identification and arrest by South Wales Police
In the UK, a man of Indian descent was given a six-year and-nine-month prison term for raping a lady in Cardiff, Wales’s capital and largest city. Early on June 4 of last year, Preet Vikal raped the girl while carrying her across his shoulders and then in his arms in Cardiff’s downtown. The CCTV camera caught him moving.
Vikal was recognised and apprehended by South Wales Police thanks to CCTV evidence and an Instagram message conversation between him and the victim. This Thursday, he received a sentence that calls for him to serve two-thirds of it in jail and the remaining portion either on licence or under rigorous parole requirements.
The woman testified in court that the incident had left her feeling terrified, unable to sleep, and guilty. The woman was out with friends in Cardiff when Vikal ran into her, according to the police.
The woman and her friends started walking home from The Friary neighbourhood in the heart of the city. But thereafter, she could be seen being carried by Vikal on King Edward VII Avenue and North Road in surveillance film. The police found evidence that Vikal carried her on to a house on North Road, where she was raped.
In a separate statement, South Wales Police emphasised that it takes all accusations of sexual assault seriously and invited victims to come forward to do so, regardless of when the crime occurred.
