An Atlanta man was convicted last week of a 2015 rape after authorities say he befriended a woman, convincing her that he was a gay man, only to violently attack her once gaining her trust.
According to prosecutors, Taurence Callagain initially met the victim at a Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority station in August 2015.
“They rode the same train and eventually exchanged numbers. The victim is a lesbian and has a female partner who she was in a relationship with when she met the defendant. Callagain led the victim to believe he was gay, so she was under the impression that their relationship was strictly platonic,” The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
On the night of the attack, when she missed the last scheduled bus, Callagain offered her a ride home, which she accepted. However, before taking the woman home, Callagain claimed he had to stop at his house.
“Callagain said he needed to first stop at his house to pick up some marijuana. When they arrived, Callagain and the victim entered his home under the guise that the two were headed to Callagain’s bedroom to smoke marijuana. That is when he began to strangle her and proceeded to violently rape her,” the statement read.
Throughout the sexual assault, Callagain warned the woman that if she put up a fight, he would “get my boys to come in and hold you down.” The victim took the threat seriously once hearing another male voice in the home.
The victim “was terrified that if she kept screaming, Callagain would, in fact, do as he said and call in his friends,” the statement recounted.
However, she eventually escaped and ran three miles home to safety.
She then went to the hospital for treatment, and reported the incident to the police.
During the investigation, Callagain claimed that the encounter was consensual. But, Prosecutors nor the jurors believed his story, returning a guilty verdict against the 36-year-old on February 25th. The jury unanimously found that Callagain lied to the victim in order to gain her trust with the intent to attack her.
A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.
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