A man has been jailed for eight years for brutally raping a young Jehovah's Witness.

Katshi Luputa, 30, attacked the devoutly religious woman after tricking her into a flat in Brighton.

Once inside, he pinned her down, stripped off her clothes and carried out the attack despite her begging him to stop.

When she threatened to scream for help, he warned he would hit her.

Luputa, a former factory worker of Glyndebourne Avenue, Saltdean, was convicted after the jury of four women and six men returned a unanimous verdict at the end of a four-day trial at Lewes Crown Court.

The married father-of-two wept as he glanced towards his wife and young children in the public gallery as he was led to the cells.

Judge Richard Brown described the attack as "horrendous" and told Luputa he had mentally scarred his victim for life. He said he would recommend Luputa, who was born in Zaire and arrived in the UK six years ago claiming asylum, be deported on his release.

The jury heard how the woman met Luputa through mutual friends at a church service.

He saw her waiting at a bus stop and pulled up to offer her a lift.

Instead of driving straight to her house he pulled up in Beaconsfield Road, at what he said was his home, and asked the woman to meet his family.

When they reached the door, the flat was empty and in darkness. As she hesitated, he pushed her inside and attacked her. Afterwards he instructed her: "Don't tell my wife."

He then offered her a lift home. Lost and terrified, she agreed.

Luputa drove her part of the way before leaving her at the busy Vogue gyratory in Lewes Road, where she had to find her own way.

The woman struggled not to break down as she recalled the assault.

She told the jury: "I was crying on my way home.

"I felt stupid and humiliated because I trusted him and I never thought he would do that."

The court heard the woman did not intend to go to the police.

The following day she went to see a nurse for advice as she feared she might have caught an infection or become pregnant.

When she told the nurse what had happened the police were alerted.

She was reluctant to see him prosecuted because of her religious beliefs and wanted to forgive him.

Luputa, speaking through an interpreter, told the jury the woman was lying.

He said they went to the flat because he was waiting for furniture to be collected. Once inside, she offered to perform a sex act on him.

He said he was shocked because she had previously told him she was a virgin.

He said: "I told her I didn't believe she was a virgin. I didn't use a very friendly or nice tone. Maybe I should have been grateful to her for what she did to me but I was not."

He claimed when he offered her a lift home it annoyed him that she was not talking so he dropped her off.

The jury took less than two hours to find him guilty of rape and indecent assault.

Judge Brown told him: "This was a horrendous attack on a vulnerable young lady. In your arrogant way, I am sure you realised her naivety and cultural background might deter her from reporting the matter to police.

"In view of her obvious sincere religious beliefs, the enforced loss of her virginity prior to marriage is further devastating to her.

"By putting this young lady through the ordeal of reliving the horror of the attack in this court you have demonstrated you have absolutely no remorse."

The court heard Luputa lost his appeal to stay in the UK in 2002 and since his arrest the Home Office had served a deportation notice on him.