A man forced an abducted schoolgirl to take a selfie with him just moments after raping her in a bush.
Silvestar Toshev, 27, was jailed for 23 years after attacking and raping two teenage girls, the last of which he committed whilst on bail.
The Bulgarian national raped his first victim, aged 17, in a park in September 2021.
He attacked his second victim, aged 16, after dragging her into a bush in January 2022, while he was still on bail for the first offence.
The second victim told Kingston Crown Court the terrifying attack had left her ‘most nights having nightmares and waking up shaking and screaming’.
She also recalled she felt ‘unseen’ after members of the public watched Toshev pick her up and take her away, despite her pleading with him not to.
‘Many people saw this man pick me up and take me across the road.
‘I knew this because they had to stop to watch him pass over,’ she told the court.
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‘It made me feel unseen and alone. No-one was coming to save me.’
The first victim was due to meet a friend, waiting at a bus stop in Surbiton, when predator Toshev met her and called her ‘beautiful’.
He persuaded her to go to a nearby grassy area where he started to kiss her, even after she tried to move away. She then agreed to take her tights off ‘because she was scared’, the court heard.
Toshev pinned her to the floor and forced her legs apart so he could rape her, causing her to ‘black out mentally’ while ‘a number of members of the public’ were nearby, the court heard.
Judge Mark Bryant-Heron KC told Toshev: ‘She had her head turned away from you when you raped her. She was not consenting. It must have been obvious to you.’
The victim, who was targeted for being ‘young, naïve, and unaware of the dangers’, was transformed from a ‘confident social person’ to someone who does not like to go anywhere on their own, the court was told.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, she said she had ‘lost all self esteem’ and had thoughts of self-harm.
She also revealed three universities offers had been withdrawn due to the slide in her school grades, with only one institution offering her an alternative course at great financial cost.
The second victim also met Toshev at a bus stop, this time in Sutton, where he followed her onto an empty bus and began speaking to her and touching her on the thigh.
As she spurned his advances and left the bus, Toshev followed her and grabbed her hand to stop her getting away.
He then picked her up and carried her away despite her cries of ‘no no no’.
When he tried to kiss her she turned her head away, so ‘in annoyance’ Toshev turned her around and raped her against a fence, the court was told.
LThe second victim also became withdrawn when she realised what was happening.
In both cases, Toshev used his ‘superior physical force’ to get what he wanted, and later claimed it was all consensual.
But Toshev degraded his victim even more, forcing her to take photos with him moments after forcing himself upon her.
Judge Bryant-Heron KC told Toshev: ‘I find it a terrible disturbing detail of this case having penetrated her without her consent, you asked if you could see her again and took selfies with her, pulling her to you.’
Prosecutor David Clarke said Toshev had caused severe psychological harm to both victims, and the offence was aggravated by his targeting of vulnerable young girls, one of whom he abducted.
Toshev’s refusal to accept his guilt meant both teenagers were force to relive their experiences in front of a jury, under rigorous cross examination by the defence.
Defence barrister Isobel McCarroll said her client had come to the UK for ‘a better life’ after a ‘very very difficult childhood’ as an orphan in Bulgaria, and had now come to acknowledge his crimes.
Judge Bryant-Heron KC, who noted Toshev’s remorse was ‘very recent’, considered the seriousness of his crimes and gave him an extended sentence of 23 years.
He said: ‘The reason you chose young girls under 18 was for your sexual gratification because you thought they were more persuadable.
‘You thought they were more likely to go with you initially because they lacked the life experience of a more mature adult to use effective measures to get rid of you.
‘They were in that sense vulnerable. You knew that. You used that. You exploited that vulnerability.’
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