Man sentenced for historic child rape – Potters Bar

A man has been sentenced to a total of eight years and two months in prison after he was found guilty of raping a child.

Zakary Jafari, aged 23, of Potters Bar, appeared at St Albans Crown Court on Friday, July 6.

He was found guilty of two counts of raping a boy under the age of 13 and one count of inciting a child to engage in a sexual act.

The court heard that at the time of the rape offences, Jafari was aged between 13 and 14 and the victim was aged between six and seven.

The offences came to light in 2016 after the victim, now aged 16, disclosed what had happened to a family member and they called the police.

Jafari received a seven and a half year sentence for each rape offence, which the judge ordered to run concurrently.

Detective Sergeant Adam Conder, who investigated, said: “I would like to commend the victim’s bravery in coming forward and speaking to us in order to bring his abuser to justice years after the offences occurred.

“It is always understandably difficult and distressing for victims of sexual abuse to talk about what happened to them, but to gather the courage to stand up and give evidence in a court of law must be very daunting and I am extremely proud of the victim in this case.

“There is no doubt that Jafari’s actions have had a profound impact on the victim’s life, but I hope he and his family feel able to try and move forward now that justice has been done.

“Anyone who has been sexually abused, either recently or historically, will always be treated with kindness, dignity and respect when they make a report to us. We will always support them as the case progresses and reaches its conclusion.”

Jafari also pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis with intent to supply after police seized drugs worth nearly £1,400 from his home address while he was on bail in May last year. For this he was sentenced to an additional eight months in prison.