A barber who plied a woman with alcohol before raping her has been jailed – along with a mum of three who filmed the depraved conduct and then used the footage in a blackmail bid.
Maidstone Crown Court heard the victim had no memory of her sexual ordeal at the hands of Vasile Raducanu and only found out when the recording was sent to her by his girlfriend Indre Bruziene.
Discovering she had been raped and covertly filmed, followed by demands for £5,000 or the footage would be shared with her family, caused what a judge described as “very serious distress”.
The woman herself described being left “devastated and ashamed”, and struggling to understand what had happened to her that night.
Not only did the footage show her being raped and sexually assaulted but also depicted Raducanu appearing to “choreograph” the action by “moving and prompting” the victim while “gesturing” to his partner on what to capture and where to stand as she filmed through a window.
The blackmail attempt was also backed up by Bruziene sending two photographs to the victim which the judge said had added to her “degradation and humiliation”.
But instead of giving in to the demands for money, she bravely told her family and then alerted police, leading to the couple’s arrest and now their prison sentences.
Raducanu, a 33-year-old Romanian, denied two offences of rape, one of attempted rape and two of sexual assault but was found guilty of all charges by a jury earlier this year.
Lithuanian Bruziene, 40, denied blackmail and was convicted by the same jurors.
At trial, it was accepted by the prosecution that she had not played a part in the sexual violence committed in September 2020 and that Raducanu – the father of one of her children – was not involved in the blackmail.
It was also said by Judge Oliver Saxby KC that Bruziene did not “know” she was filming rape.
But on sentencing the pair, both of Alma Road, Sheerness, on Thursday (August 14), he told Raducanu he had not shown “one ounce of true remorse” and that Bruziene had behaved in a “callous and cynical” way.
“What more distressing an experience could it have been to be told that, on this evening that she had no memory of, she had been the victim of serious sexual violence,” the judge remarked.
A victim impact statement read out to the court by prosecutor David Joss KC detailed her shock and how she wanted the defendants “properly punished”.
“I didn’t know what to do. I felt ashamed. I was emotionally devastated,” she wrote.
“When I found out about this incident I couldn’t sleep for a long time….I kept thinking about the incident, trying to understand what had happened.
“The fact I don’t remember what happened that night troubles me deeply. I try to recall it but I can’t and that causes me constant distress.”
She added that having to speak to police and give evidence in court had been “unbearable”, and what added to her sense of shame was the fear of people asking questions about it.
“I want to run away as far as possible. I don’t feel safe,” she concluded.
Raducanu, who continues to deny the offences, has lived in the UK for almost 12 years and has settled, legal status.
But in urging that the shortest sentence possible be imposed, his barrister Craig Evans said the defendant, whose only previous conviction was for drug offences in his homeland in 2010, wanted to leave “as soon as possible”.
“What happened was a complete stain on his character, a complete aberration which I accept on his behalf has had a significant impact on the complainant,” Mr Evans added.
“He wants to make clear to Your Honour and to the court that he seeks deportation as soon as possible.
“He has made an application for voluntary deportation and seeks to return to Romania whether that is in custody or not.
“He has no intention of remaining in the UK and will be returning home, he hopes, as soon as possible.”
Maddison Fisher, defending cafe worker Bruziene, urged the court to suspend any term of immediate custody.
Having described the relationship with Raducanu as “toxic”, it was said the couple were no longer together and that she provided sole financial support for their daughter.
Ms Fisher also told the court that on being sent to jail, the family would be at risk of losing their home.
However, it was said that Bruziene had made arrangements for her eldest child to look after the youngest.
It was also argued that although it was accepted she had caused the victim serious distress, “a large proportion” of that came from the sexual violence Raducanu had subjected her to.
But on passing sentence, Judge Saxby said both were to be jailed for the plan they “hatched” together for him to engage in sexual activity and for her to film it, and which was not only made to appear to be consensual but was also “facilitated through alcohol”.
“Had she been capable of consent, she would not have consented. But she was not capable of consenting,” he said.
“You, Mr Raducanu, must have known this – from what you had given her to drink, from her behaviour in the lead-up, from her behaviour during the sexual contact and from your need to move her and prompt her during that sexual contact.
“For the same reasons you, Miss Bruziene, must strongly have suspected it.
“She was so affected by alcohol as to have no memory of what had happened and it is clear from the footage that, at the time, she had no real appreciation of what was going on and no ability to stop it. In other words, she was defenceless.”
Raducanu was jailed for 12-and-a-half years and will have to serve two-thirds before he is released.
However, while concluding he was “a danger” by the nature and extent of the offences plus his “lying approach” to them, Judge Saxby decided that an extended sentence was not required in light of the length of jail term imposed and how long he would have to serve.
Bruziene wept and appeared bewildered in the dock on hearing her prison sentence of three years and three months.
The judge told her: “Contacting (the victim) as you did, you revealed to her something she did not know, namely that on that evening she and Mr Raducanu had been engaged in sexual activity which she knew she would never have consented to and which she saw she was not consenting to.
“Though you must have strongly suspected it, I accept you did not know she was incapable of consenting – in other words, you did not know you were in fact filming rape and other sexual offending made to look like consensual activity.
“But she was drunk and vulnerable and in fact she was being seriously sexually assaulted, and your blackmail was committed in connection with this.”
Having rejected any suggestion of remorse or that Raducanu had been abusive and coercive towards her, he remarked Bruziene had told “a string of lies” to try to minimise her involvement and was “utterly devoid” of any victim empathy.
“You need not have filmed, you need not have used that film. But you did,” Judge Saxby continued.
“No court relishes sending a mother to prison. But Mr Raducanu subjected (the victim) to what were in fact serious sexual offences.
“You filmed this activity, you must have strongly suspected she was not capable of consent, and you then used this footage, humiliating and demeaning as it is, to try and extract money from her, with the consequence not only that she was made aware of what had happened but her family as well.
“Using that film as you did was a particularly callous and cynical act.”
At the end of the hearing, Judge Saxby praised the victim and the courage she had shown.
