Asylum seeker jailed for 10 years after raping 15-year-old girl
An asylum seeker who was allowed to stay in the UK – after several attempts to deport him – has been jailed for more than 10 years after he raped a 15-year-old girl.
Anicet Mayela, 41, from the Republic of Congo, first came to the UK in 2004 but was set to be deported in 2005.
He carried out the attack in December last year when inebriated and caused the teenage girl to become pregnant, a judge sitting at Oxford Crown Court heard on Tuesday.
‘Do-gooder’ cabin crew blocked Mayela’s deporation on an Air France flight after they heard he was being sent back to his home country.
Despite his guilty plea to a single count of rape at Oxford Crown Court in April, Mayela continued to profess his innocence and previously made an attempt to vacate his original plea, which was rejected by a judge.
Today, he was jailed by Judge Maria Lamb for 10 years and 10 months, with Judge Lamb telling the defendant he had committed ‘a terrible offence’ against the 15-year-old complainant.
The judge said: ‘For her, it was her first sexual experience, and the misery that you caused to that child who became pregnant as a result must have been extreme.
‘You continued to deny your offence. Your sentence will be no longer for that, but you don’t have the benefit of remorse, and she doesn’t have the support and assistance of knowing that you acknowledge your guilt.’
Judge Lamb, commenting on the victim impact statement, added: ‘She is a remarkable young woman who, despite everything that has happened to her and everything that you did to her, has found it possible to forgive you.’
Edward Lucas, prosecuting, told the judge the teenage victim had an abortion in the months following the rape.
Mayela was first interviewed by police in March this year, when he made ‘full admissions, but denied using any force on the complainant’.
Several family members watched from the public gallery as he was sentenced.
It is understood the Home Office initially refused Mayela’s asylum claim in 2004 but he successfully challenged the decision in the courts and was eventually granted leave to remain on appeal in 2010.
An earlier deportation attempt also failed after he alleged he was injured in an isolation cell at Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre.
A month after his flight was blocked Mayela was granted leave to remain after lawyers said his deportation would be go against his human rights.
Police also said they would investigate the injuries he claimed to sustain during his deportation.
Mayela was later pictured protesting outside Campsfield House, where he was first held, with a sign stating: ‘Migrants are not criminals.’
He told the BBC at the time: ‘I am here to support my friends… I have been inside here, and at Colnbrook.’
He will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence before he can be released on licence, and was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for life.
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