An Atlanta man is convicted of rape after he apparently pretended to be gay to lure his victim into his home so he could rape her.
According to NBC News, Taurence Gallagain, 36, met the victim at a Metropolitan Atlanta mass transit station weeks before the incident in September 2015. Fulton County DA Paul Howard said the victim was in a relationship with a woman when she met Gallagain. The two eventually exchanged numbers after riding the same train, according to a statement from the Fulton County District Attorney’s office. Prosecutors did not identify the victim.
He told the victim that he wasn’t curious about a relationship together with her thanks to him being curious about men. Before the attack, the victim missed her last bus and Gallagain offered her a ride home so she didn’t need to walk to her home in Allen Hills.
He then claimed that he needed to stop at his house to pick up marijuana, and the victim followed him into his home.
“At that point, the victim thought they were going to Callagain’s bedroom to smoke marijuana when he began to strangle her and proceeded to violently rape her,” the DA’s office stated. “During the rape, Callagain told the victim if she fought or screamed, ‘I will get my boys to come in and hold you down.’”
The woman managed to flee from Gallagian’s home and ran three miles to her apartment. She described the incident to police but he claimed the incident was “consensual.” His sentencing date has not been set and Gallagian features a pending assault case in Fulton County.
