Her boyfriend left her to walk home alone at night.



He only gets six years under the libby wibby love the criminal laws, her life is destroyed. It was his second rape.

Pushing their daughter on a swing in the park, Taylor Kenney and her husband Dean look like the perfect family.

But the fact she is able to enjoy simple pleasures next to the man she loves is, to her, nothing short of a miracle.

Just three years ago, Taylor, then 16, was subjected to a ­terrifying ordeal that would change her life for ever.

In the early hours of Monday, March 16, 2009, she was walking home alone from a night out after rowing with her ­boyfriend when she was raped by Jawid Armani. In the months that followed, her relationship nearly crumbled and she was unsure if she could ever lead a normal life again.

But Taylor’s testimony and DNA evidence secured justice not only for herself, but for another woman who had been raped seven months earlier.And thanks to Taylor’s courage, Armani is now serving six years in jail and both she and his other victim, who had been living with the fear that
her attacker was still at large, have found peace. Today Taylor, now 19, has waived anonymity in a bid to ­encourage other ­victims to seek justice.

“What Armani put me through was the worst thing imaginable,” says ­Taylor, who lives with Dean, 24, an ­engineer, and their daughter, Sophia, two, in Warwickshire. “Dean felt so guilty that I’d been alone, but what ­happened wasn’t his fault.

"I’m just happy my ­rapist is in jail and I am free to rebuild my life.”

On the evening of the attack, Taylor and Dean had gone for a drink. But after a row, Dean stormed out, leaving Taylor behind.

When Dean got home, the couple phoned each other and made up.

Dean then began to make the 40-minute walk back to the town centre to meet Taylor and walk her home.



“I thought I’d start walking towards him from the pub and we’d bump into each other halfway,” recalls Taylor.

What she couldn’t have foreseen was that Jawid Armani, an illegal immigrant from Afghanistan, had been drinking in the pub and followed her out when she left.“I was 10 minutes into my journey, going through a dark alley, when I heard heavy footsteps behind me.

"Before I could react, he came up and grabbed me from behind before ­pushing me to the ground.”

Armani carried out a brutal attack on Taylor for more than half an hour.

“He made me perform oral sex on him before he raped me,” says Taylor.

“I was petrified but didn’t scream and did everything he said as I was terrified he’d kill me if I didn’t.

“I prayed that Dean would come and rescue me but he didn’t get there in time. Eventually it was over.

"My attacker whispered ‘sorry’ in my ear before he got off me and ran off.

"I managed to get myself up and banged on nearby houses for help.

"No one answered so I ran to a nearby pub, which was closed. Luckily, the landlord answered and called the police.”

Taylor was taken to a rape centre where she was examined before swabs were taken. She had to be tested for HIV as well as other STIs. Shortly afterwards, the police arrested a drunken man fitting Taylor’s ­description, only minutes from the scene of the crime.

Meanwhile, Dean had arrived at the pub and at first ­presumed they had missed each other.

Walking back home, he passed through the alleyway and after speaking to a passer-by who said the police had been searching the area because a girl had been raped, Dean started to panic, calling Taylor frantically.“When I finally spoke to him from the police station and told him what had
­happened, there was a long silence before the phone went dead. "I was devastated. I thought he wouldn’t want to stay with me and our relationship was over,” she says.

Unable to handle what had ­happened, Dean went into a state of shock.

Taylor later found out that he had ended up ­drinking a bottle of vodka before ­passing out.

“He apologised for the way he’d reacted but explained it was too much for him to take in.

"After that, he was my rock, ­supporting me through everything.”

DNA evidence confirmed that Taylor’s ­attacker was Armani, 32, who had a­rrived illegally in Britain on the back of a lorry in 2008. He was also linked to another rape on a 48-year-old woman in Reading seven months earlier.

"That victim had been asleep when ­Armani climbed through her bedroom window and raped her.

"Until then, no one had known who had ­committed that crime.

"In a sense, I was able to feel a degree of relief that I’d helped secure justice for ­another woman.”

In May 2009, Armani pleaded guilty at Warwick crown court.

In court, he claimed he couldn’t ­remember the attacks because he had been too intoxicated.

Throughout the court case he never showed any remorse and was sentenced to a minimum of six years and one month in jail for both offences.“Dean didn’t come to court because I didn’t want him to hear all the gory details,” says Taylor.

“It was tough being in the same room as the man who had stolen so much from me – my youth, my innocence, my trust in others.

"My dad was crying and full of anger – he wanted to climb over the public gallery and kill him.”

In the weeks and months ­following ­Armani’s conviction, Taylor and Dean’s world fell apart.

“Dean became ­withdrawn and blamed ­himself for not being there to protect me,” she says.

“I never blamed him, but he blamed himself.

"We hadn’t been together that long and it should have been our ­honeymoon period, but it was a nightmare.

“I was struggling with the trauma of what happened. I couldn’t sleep and began to self-harm.

"The physical pain temporarily took away my mental torment.

"I was ­suffering panic attacks and developed an eating disorder, but worst of all, I saw Armani’s face everywhere.”

The couple’s relationship began to suffer as a result and Taylor and Dean weren’t ­intimate with one another for many months.

“Sex was ­understandably the last thing on my mind, and it wasn’t a ­priority for Dean.”

But knowing they loved each other, they stuck together, determined not to let ­Armani ruin their lives.

“We knew we’d have to try and put the past behind us if we had any chance at having a future,” she says.

In September 2009, almost six months after the attack, Taylor resumed her intimate relationship with Dean and got pregnant.

Sophia, now two, was born in May 2010. A few months later, Dean proposed and the couple wed in October that year.

Despite their new-found ­happiness, in March 2011, Taylor experienced a slap in the face by the justice system.

As a rape victim, she was entitled to put in a claim for compensation through the Criminal ­Injuries ­Compensation ­Authority but because she was one month late handing in her application, due to two close family members passing away, she was not eligible to claim.“What angers me the most is that ­taxpayers such as Dean and I are footing the bill for Armani in prison, and if he isn’t sent straight back to Afghanistan.

I’ve been left with nothing.”Taylor also feels angry about the sentence Armani received.

“I don’t feel it was long enough. He actually had the gall to tell the judge that he didn’t want to be sent back to Afghanistan as he’d be executed for his ­offences. "It’s disgusting.”

Right now, though, Taylor is making the most of being a full-time mum. She also wants other victims to know that being raped isn’t their fault.“I shouldn’t have walked home alone but no one deserves to be raped.

"Each day, with the help of Dean and Sophia, I become a bit stronger. With their help, I will move on from my ordeal eventually. "But for now I am taking each day as it comes. At least for now, I have justice.

"Armani is behind bars and can no longer harm me, or other women.”

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