Muhammad Hafeez raped teenage girls in back of Glasgow newsagents and car in 'predatory' attacks

A man raped a vulnerable teenage girl at the shop where he worked.

Muhammad Hafeez then struck again carrying out a similar attack on another young victim in his car.

The 37-year-old is now behind bars having been convicted of both crimes after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

He will be sentenced at a later date.

The first victim – a stranger then aged 18 and who suffered from personal issues – had travelled from Ayrshire into Glasgow on the night of March 20, 2020.

She ended up in the Central News shop in the city’s Union Street, where Hafeez worked.

CCTV captured him chatting to the girl at the till. The court heard he went on to lure her into the back of the newsagents before threatening and attacking her.

The traumatised victim went on to leave the newsagents after the attack and got on a train to Edinburgh – miles from where she lived.

She eventually got off in Kirknewton, West Lothian, where police happened to find her.

The girl later reported her ordeal of what happened at the shop.

In her closing speech to jurors, prosecutor Lindsey Dalziel said Hafeez had seen the vulnerable girl “a mile off” and took advantage of her.

Ms Dalziel stated at one stage: “Muhammad Hafeez was nearly twice her age. Do you believe, in all the circumstances, that she agreed to have sexual intercourse?”

The second victim – who was around the same age as the first – was raped in a motor in an unknown car park in Glasgow on September 13, 2021.

She had also been in the shop and – in an apparent act of “goodwill” – Hafeez had offered to give her a lift before forcing himself on her.

Hafeez had denied the accusations during the trial.

But advocate depute Ms Dalziel said he “carried out a predatory campaign of behaviour to satisfy his own sexual needs” by preying on “vulnerable” victims.

She concluded: “This is not a series of unfortunate coincidences and not the universe conspiring against him.”

Sentencing was deferred for reports.