Man pleads guilty to religiously aggravated rape

John Ashby, a 32-year-old man with no fixed address, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to raping and assaulting a Sikh woman in her Walsall home last October, in an attack prosecutors described as religiously aggravated after he mistakenly believed she was Muslim.

The incident occurred on October 25, 2023, when Ashby followed the woman off a bus in Walsall town center around 6:30 p.m. According to prosecutors, he had spotted her earlier on the bus, where she was returning home from work and a shopping trip. After she disembarked for the short walk to her residence, Ashby trailed her on foot, assessed entry points captured on CCTV, and entered the property while she was upstairs changing clothes.

Once inside, Ashby armed himself with a piece of wood and barged into the bathroom where the woman had locked herself. He turned off the lights and demanded she undress, striking her with the stick and strangling her despite her screams. Throughout the assault, he hurled racial and religious abuse, calling her a "f***ing Muslim b***h" and a "bloody Muslim b***h," and claiming to be a "British master." He forced her into the bathtub, poured hot water over her while demanding she say "hallelujah,"...