A man who tricked four men into sexual activity with him in the mistaken belief that he was a woman has been jailed for 15 years.
Duarte Xavier, from Wandsworth, was convicted at Kingston Crown Court on Friday, October 5 of six counts of causing a male aged 13 or over to engage in penetrative sexual activity.
The 33-year-old had pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing at Kingston Crown Court on Wednesday, May 16.
He was remanded and sentenced at the same court today (Friday, November 9).
The court heard that Xavier was a liar and fantasist who carried out his crimes over several years.
He would use online dating websites to masquerade as a female named Ana, entering into conversations and sending provocative pictures to straight men, who were fooled by his online persona into meeting for sex.
When they agreed to meet for sex "Ana" would set a series of conditions, including that the victim must wear a blindfold for the duration of the encounter and was not allowed to touch "her".
On the first reported incident in 2016, a 45-year-old victim had been communicating with Ana through a dating app and arranged to meet at her flat.
Rules had been set prior to the victim’s arrival so that both apparently knew what would happen; Ana told the victim that he would not see her throughout their encounter.
Upon arrival at an address in Wandsworth, the victim followed the instructions and found a blindfold in the bedroom.
He heard Ana call his name and put the blindfold on. The pair began having sex when the victim realised something was wrong and removed the blindfold, when he saw Xavier.
The victim was enraged and immediately left the address. Xavier sent a message to the victim afterwards saying "I got a mental health problem, sorry".
The victim ordered Xavier to delete all record of their communication, to which he replied that he already had.
'Looking for a bit of fun'
In 2017, a 29-year-old man messaged Ana via a dating app and received a response that she was a recently single female "looking for a bit of fun".
The pair talked over WhatsApp, exchanging pictures and even a video call; the victim had no reason to suspect that he was not speaking to a woman.
They arranged to meet for sex the same day at a flat in Hardwick Square, Wandsworth. Again, the victim arrived at the location and put on a blindfold, as Ana had asked.
He heard what he thought was a female voice saying "stay there, don’t take off and don’t move the mask". A person then approached from behind and tied the blindfold tighter.
He was led blindfolded into another room where Ana began to perform a sexual act.
The victim took off the blindfold and saw Xavier.
He left in disgust immediately having been in the property for minutes.
Xavier began sending messages to the victim, apologising and saying there must have been a misunderstanding, but continued to message requesting oral sex.
The victim reported the incident to police and Xavier was arrested in October 2017 on suspicion of causing sexual activity with a person without consent. He was released under investigation.
A number of mobile phones and masks were also seized.
The third incident took place in April 2018. The victim, a 26-year-old man, had been looking for sexual relations with women on a website when he received a message from Ana, advertising herself as a 35-year-old woman.
The pair arranged a video call via WhatsApp, where Ana stated that she had to conceal her identity so as to avoid getting caught because she was married.
The pair arranged to meet at Ana’s address, which was in darkness when the victim arrived. He said hello and was instructed to close the door and come upstairs.
As the victim went upstairs, he felt a person grab him and pull his trousers down. An item, believed to be a pillow case, was put over his head.
He asked to see that the person he had been communicating with was actually female, to which Ana said no and began performing a sexual act.
The victim used the light from his mobile phone and discovered that it was Xavier.
The victim was horrified and said he would tell police, to which Xavier responded "good, I will too".
Too embarrassed to tell anyone
The victim went outside and called police and Xavier was arrested.
The fourth victim was identified by police after reviewing phone records from seized mobile phones.
The victim in this incident, a 29-year-old man, had been too embarrassed and ashamed to tell anyone.
In December 2016 the victim and Ana began engaging with each other over a dating website. Ana explained that she was looking for a role play experience where the victim would be blindfolded.
Both parties exchanged pictures and videos and agreed to meet at Ana’s address before she claimed her landlady would be home and they must meet elsewhere.
Ana told the victim they would meet in a park.
The victim obliged and the following day he went to King George’s Park in Wandsworth as ordered by Ana.
The victim had trouble finding the meeting place and called Ana; again he had no reason to suspect he was not talking to a woman, commenting in later interviews to police that Ana sounded like a foreign woman.
He went to the agreed spot, a secluded area. Ana arrived and performed a sexual act on him before they had sex. Ana then left and the victim was left entirely unaware that he had had sex with a man.
WhatsApp records of conversations between the pair revealed that the victim had not realised what had happened and at no point did Xavier reveal his true identity.
As a result the pair arranged to meet again a few days later, on the same terms and same place. This time the victim held off on putting on the blindfold, curious as to who he was meeting.
When Xavier approached, the pair saw each other and Xavier tried to hide. When the victim asked what he was doing, Xavier claimed to have believed that the victim was bisexual and approved of the arrangement.
The victim was distraught by the revelation; Xavier offered to pay his cab fare home, to which the victim said no and that he did not want to be contacted by him ever again.
Detective Constable Lucy Marsh, of the South West Command Unit, said: “We are pleased to see that Duarte has received a significant sentence for what he did; all of the victims had no reason to believe that they were not engaging with a woman and all have stated unequivocally that they would never have given their consent to sexual relations with another man.
“Xavier demonstrated extreme manipulation and cunning in order to satisfy his own sexual gratification, setting bizarre conditions that the victims adhered to in the belief that they were part of the experience.
“He is a sexual predator and I hope the victims, all of whom were traumatised by their experiences, will see the sentence today and feel that justice has been done.
“I thank them again for their bravery not only in telling us of their ordeals, but in facing difficult and challenging questions throughout the judicial process.
“We remain entirely aware that there may be other potential victims of Xavier who, so far, have also felt too ashamed to speak to police. I would ask those people to come forward, to tell us, and we will treat you with the utmost sensitivity and in the strictest of confidence.”
