Man who pretended to be gay to befriend lesbian during their daily train commute is convicted of raping and choking her after offering her a ride home
- Taurence Callagain, 36, struck up a friendship with a female passenger on his commuter train in August 2015
- He told the woman he was gay so that she was under the impression that their relationship was platonic
- One evening Callagain offered to drive the woman home, but he stopped off at his own house, where he violently raped her
- Callagain claimed the sex was consensual, but a jury has convicted him of rape
Taurence Callagain, 36, has been accused of raping a woman he met on a commuter train in 2015
An Atlanta man who pretended to be gay in order to strike up a friendship with a woman on his commuter train has been convicted of her rape.
Fulton County District Attorney, Paul L Howard Jr., announced the news Wednesday, while also providing shocking new details on the case.
In a statement, the DA stated that Taurence Callagain, 36, met his victim at a transit station in August 2015.
The pair regularly rode the train together, and Callagain lured the woman – who is a lesbian in a long-term relationship – into a false friendship.
He told her that he was gay so that she was under the impression that their relationship was strictly platonic and they eventually exchanged phone numbers.
On September 6, 2015, the victim missed her connecting bus, and Callagain offered to give her a ride home, according to prosecutors.
While en route, he told the woman that he needed to stop by his house and pick up some marijuana.
Callagain struck up a friendship with the woman on the Atlanta commuter train they used to ride together
The woman accompanied him inside, at which point he suddenly began strangling her before he pushed her into his bedroom and began to rape her.
Callagain warned the victim against screaming or resisting during the ordeal, telling her that if she made noise he would ‘get my boys to come in and hold you down’.
She later told investigators that she heard another man’s voice in the house and ‘was terrified that if she screamed Callagain would, in fact, do as he said’.
The victim managed to subsequently flee Callagain’s home, and three miles back to her own residence.
She then went to Atlanta Medical Center for treatment, where police were called.
The pair met at the H.E. Holmes MARTA station in Atlanta in August 2015
The woman accurately described the interior of Callagain’s home, and her underwear was found in a laundry hamper.
The defendant claimed the sex was consensual, but Callagain was later arrested.
The District Attorney did not reveal when he is due to be sentenced.