A 32-year-old man has been arrested after a woman was raped in Walsall in a suspected racially aggravated attack on Saturday.
West Midlands Police said the man was detained early on Monday morning in the Perry Barr area of the town.
West Midlands police were called to the Park Hall area of Walsall just after 7.15pm on Saturday after a woman in her 20s was reported to be distressed in the street.
Officers established that the woman had been raped and assaulted at a nearby property by a man she did not know, the force said.
It confirmed that the incident was being treated as “racially aggravated.”
In a urgent appeal to the public, the police said the attacker was described as white, aged in his 30s, with short hair and wearing dark clothing at the time of the attack.
Police released CCTV footage of the suspect and asked anyone who knows his identity to ring 999 immediately.
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Detective Superintendent Ronan Tyrer, described it as “an absolutely appalling attack on a young woman”, and said police were doing all they could to arrest the man responsible.
“While we are following multiple lines of enquiry right now, it’s vital that we get to hear from anyone who saw a man acting suspiciously in the area at the time,” he added.
However, in a newly released statement following the arrest, Det Supt Tyrer said: “This is a significant development in our investigation, and I’d like to thank everyone who has come forward with information following our appeal last night.
“Our investigation will progress today, and, as always our priority is the woman who was the subject of this attack.
“She has been updated this morning and will continue to receive full support from specially trained officers.”
Preet Kaur Gill MP, the Labour (Co-op) MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, posted on X: “Deeply shocked and saddened that we are hearing of yet another racially aggravated rape this time in Walsall.”
Rape: a weapon of racists?
This horrific attack comes after a similar rape crime occurred against a Sikh woman in Oldbury, also in the West Midlands, earlier this month.
On 17 October, a man and a woman were arrested in connection with the rape, an attack that police previously described as racially motivated.
The assault on the woman in her 20s in Oldbury, sparked protests and vigils from Sikh activists last month.
The suspects, a 49-year-old man and a woman, 65, where held for questioning.
In a statement released at the time of the arrests, the Sikh Federation UK said it welcomed the update, but questioned the time taken since the Oldbury attack occurred.
Inderjit Kaur, from the organisation, said she hoped there would be enough evidence to bring charges against whoever was responsible for the “disgusting attacks.”
The two suspected “racially motivated” attacks comes amid rising Islamophobia in Britain with anti-Muslim hate crimes reaching alarming levels. Sikh’s are often targeted by Islamophobes who consider the two separate religious to be one and the same due to the skin colour, language and religious or cultural dress code similarities of the two South Asian religious communities.
While details of the victim have not been officially released in order to protect the identity of the woman, local community groups have claimed that the victim is a Punjabi woman.
Sikh Federation UK quoted local sources and said that the “young woman who was subject to a racially aggravated rape in Walsall is a Punjabi woman.”
“The attacker apparently broke down the door of the house where she was living… West Midlands Police have now had two racially aggravated rapes of young women in their 20s in the last two months and urgently need to find those responsible,” the organisation added in a statement shared on social media.
