A smirking rapist who used Grindr to find his victims shockingly claimed detectives subjected him to ‘degrading treatment’ because he was gay.
Dr Mohammed Altaher, originally from Iraq but living in Bedford, was jailed for 10 years and given a five-year sentence extension after he raped two men, who did not know each other, at his home in August and September 2019.
His case featured in the latest episode of Channel 4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody on Monday night and chilling footage was shown of Altaher’s interview with Bedfordshire Police’s Rape and Serious Sexual Offences team.
Whilst being questioned at Luton Police station over the offences, the AI specialist denied committing the crimes and said he was ‘surprised and shocked’ after being accused of pushing one man onto his bed and raping him.
When asked about this incident, he chillingly told officers: ‘I’m sorry he [the victim] can handle [a] bigger [penis] than mine. He wanted it.’
Later on in the episode, the 38-year-old shamelessly tried to claim that he had been the victim in this investigation.
He told the programme that he fled his home country because he would be ‘subject to persecution’ for being a homosexual, but suggested this treatment would be better than what he had experienced whilst being interviewed by police.
Speaking to camera, Altaher said: ‘I had to leave Iraq because I was a homosexual, and my life would be subject to persecution. If they found out I was gay I would be sentenced to death. But I would rather die in Iraq than be subject to this degrading treatment.’
In September 2023, St Albans Crown Court heard how Altaher persisted in his assaults even after consent was revoked, committing rape in an ‘aggressive manner’.
One of his victims, identified only as Jamie, recounted his ordeal in the episode, saying: ‘I never met anyone like that before who wanted to do something so horrible. There was a long time when I was having nightmares of it happening again.
‘I definitely think I’m getting stronger but it just takes time and lots of help as well.’
Following his arrest, Altaher sat for questioning with detectives and smirked as he denied the accusations of rape and boasted that he had slept with hundreds of men on the dating app Grindr.
After being released under investigation for two weeks, he boasted to the Channel 4 programme about his ability to attract partners and claimed he already engaged in sexual activities with 10 men.
Altaher was eventually found guilty of two counts of raping a male over 16 as well as one count of sexual assault by penetration on one of the men.
Prosecutor Nigel Ogborne told St Albans Crown Court: ‘The crown case is that both victims withdrew consent to sexual intercourse, but he carried on regardless, raping the victims in an aggressive manner.’
The first had been given the drug MCAT, an illegal stimulant, before being subjected to sexual aggression. At one stage Altaher called another man to the house to indulge in sexual activity before he left.
After that, the victim was penetrated on at least 10 occasions by a shower hose before being raped. He suffered multiple injuries and revealed he had been attacked at a sexual assault referral centre in Brighton.
In a victim statement the man said he couldn’t at first see himself as a rape victim. He said he did not engage at work and became ‘like a Zombie.’
The second victim was grabbed, kissed and pushed onto a bed by Altaher as soon as he arrived at his home. He got onto the victim and raped him.
In his victim statement, he said the rape had a ‘significant impact’ on his mental health and well-being. He said he was struggling to be around people and no longer socialised. ‘I was confident, healthy and outgoing and I now rely on medication.’
Jailing him, Recorder Andrew Johnson said the two men had travelled to his home for consensual sex. He said: ‘Had you acted differently, that, and nothing other than that, would have occurred.
‘But your approach to both of those encounters was to treat both of your victims as objects with whom you could do what you wished, when you wished, as you wished.’
He went on: ‘You are also, however, an arrogant man – or to use the language of the probation officer, from which I do not dissent, “quite a narcissistic individual and very self-obsessed”.
‘That was apparent when you gave evidence and indeed throughout the trial.
‘You are either unwilling or unable to recognise the perspective of anyone but yourself. Your arrogance is the backdrop to this offending. What Dr Altaher wants, Dr Altaher gets, and if what you want is sexual intercourse, then the consent of whoever you want it with matters to you not at all… If you want it to happen, it shall happen.’