Sentencing delayed for sex attacker who told victim he was a street pastor

A man who claimed he was a street pastor before sexually assaulting a woman in his car has to wait to learn his fate.

Harry Chinkumbi, 34, preyed on the 24-year-old during a journey from Glasgow city centre to Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire.

The married dad-of-two had earlier told the woman and her friend that he was a street pastor to make them feel “safe.”

He went on to put his hands down his victim’s trousers as she sat in his front passenger seat during the 20-minute journey.

Chinkumbi was confronted and tackled by the woman after the journey.

The trained youth and children’s worker later told a jury that it was the woman who initiated contact between them.

Despite Chinkumbi’s claims that he was a “street pastor”, it has since emerged that he did not complete his studies with the Edinburgh Theological Seminary run by the Free Church of Scotland.

Chinkumbi was found guilty in August at Glasgow Sheriff Court of sexually assaulting the woman.

He was back in the dock on Tuesday to be sentenced.

However, Ryan Sloan, defending, requested an adjournment so that his background reports for sentencing could be completed.

He said: “The process is well under way. The first letter went to his old address – things are under way.”

The matter was adjourned until November by Sheriff Barry Divers.

The court previously heard Chinkumbi came across the woman and her friend in the early hours of September 22, 2024.

The woman told Chinkumbi that they could not get a taxi back home at the end of their night out.

The woman told the court in her evidence: “He said he could help us and that he has a taxi but it was a wee bit away…I didn’t think anything of it.

“He was nice enough and seemed genuine to try and get us back.”

Prosecutor Leo McGinn asked the woman if she had any reason to doubt that he was a taxi driver and she replied: “No.”

Jurors were told that the two women initially went to the back seats of the car but Chinkumbi insisted one of them go in the front.

The woman stated that she got into the front passenger seat.

She said that from the start of the journey Chinkumbi touched her “on the inside of my thigh” with his hand as he drove.

The woman stated that his hand then went under her cargo trousers. Chinkumbi’s DNA was later found on her underwear.

The woman told the court: “I just started looking out the window – I didn’t know what to do or say.

“I didn’t want to panic my friend – she saw it but I didn’t know that at the time.

“He didn’t say anything to me – it was silent and awkward.”

The woman added that she “froze.”

Jurors heard that when the car got to Cumbernauld, the woman’s friend got out to be sick.

The woman went on to confront Chinkumbi outside the car and told him: “You are a f***ing idiot for doing that to me.

“Don’t do that to me again.”

The woman stated to the court: “I got a bit angry, I was embarrassed and saw red.

“I tried to spear him to the floor. I don’t know why I did that but that’s what I did.”

The woman eventually made it home and told her mother what had happened to her.

When asked how she felt about what happened, the woman replied: “I’m still feeling emotional – it’s not been easy. I just want it to come to an end.”

Chinkumbi told the court in his evidence that he had been at a casino that night and had been due to meet a friend who did not appear.

He claimed he approached the two girls to ask them if they were “okay” and where they were going.

Chinkumbi stated: “I said to them that I previously worked as a street pastor. I said that as I was talking to them as I wanted to make sure they were safe to get home.”

When asked by his lawyer at trial Bobby Reid if he told them that he was a taxi driver, Chinkumbi replied: “No.”

Chinkumbi later claimed that it was the woman who repeatedly grabbed his hand to touch her on the body.

Chinkumbi – who came to the UK from Zambia in 2014 – has one previous road traffic conviction.