A rapist has been jailed for assaulting a woman while on bail for the sex attack.

A court heard how Keith Rojas attacked the woman at his home and left her with a perforated eardrum after the assault last July. At the time, former taxi driver Rojas was on bail after he was charged with raping a teenager the previous November.

Rojas, 50, denied but was convicted on the rape charge following a trial two weeks ago. He was jailed for five years and put on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

A court order banning publication of the rape case was imposed as Rojas had been due to face another trial on the assault charge. But when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court, he admitted the attack.

Another charge of falsely imprisoning the woman was left on the file and no evidence was offered on another charge of sexually assaulting her. The court heard the woman returned with Rojas to his home in Rustic Close, Braintree, on July 23 last year.

An argument started and Rojas hit the woman around the head before she managed to get out of the house and call police.

Rojas admitted the assault and said he had been trying to calm the woman down as she was hysterical. He was jailed for three months, consecutive to the five-year sentence for the rape.

The rape trial heard Rojas told his victim not to tell anyone what had happened to her but the 18-year-old told a friend and Rojas was arrested later.

She had been visiting a friend of Rojas at his former home in Kings Road, Halstead, on November 11, 2004, when the rape took place.

The teenager told the jury she woke up in the early hours to find Rojas on top of her. He claimed the woman had consented to sex.

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Published Wednesday, February 8, 2006

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