UPDATE: Mehmet Aytas was acquitted after a retrial in 2019. Full story here

A WOMAN who was raped more than 20 times by a man who ‘believed he was superior to women’ said she has been left “terrified” by her ordeal.

The victim, who cannot be named, was attacked by Mehmet Aytas on a number of occasions over the course of four years. Some of the rapes took place after the defendant watched violent sexual videos.

On Friday morning, Aytas, 34, was jailed for 15 years by a judge who said the defendant had a “desire to dominate and control”.

The defendant, who previously worked in the hotel industry, was this week convicted of seven counts of rape by a jury sitting at Bournemouth Crown Court.

The court heard he had repeatedly raped his victim after moving to the UK from Turkey around a decade ago. He had studied for a degree in tourism and hotel management in his home country before his relocation to Dorset.

The first rape took place shortly after Aytas arrived in the UK, when he was working at a hotel in Bournemouth.

The defendant had “ignored [his victim’s] pleas” during the attack.

On one occasion, Aytas told the victim he would put her in a dog collar and lead her around until she did as she was told.

In an impact statement read aloud to the court by prosecutors, the victim said: “I feel I will always be looking over my shoulder and always be scared of him.”

She also believes it is “inevitable” that the defendant will commit another rape, the court heard.

“What he has done is abhorrent and no one should have to go through this,” she said.

Susan Wright, mitigating, said: “[Aytas] knows he will of course be given a lengthy custodial sentence.

“All that which he has been able to build will be destroyed.”

Ms Wright said the defendant has already researched courses to take in prison, and called for his sentence to be as short as Judge Peter Johnson could allow.

“I can do no more than ask for the mercy he is only now beginning to show others,” she said.

However, Judge Johnson said Aytas, now of Alder Road in Poole, believed he was “superior” to women and had viewed females as his “personal property”.

“You had no understanding or acceptance of your behaviour until this morning,” he said.