Rape: UK-based Nigerian student faces deportation after jail term

A Nigerian postgraduate student living in the United Kingdom, Chiemka Okoronta, will be deported following his 10-year jail term after being found guilty of raping a teenage girl, PUNCH Metro learnt on Tuesday.

According to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation on Monday, the incident occurred when the teenager became stranded on a bus in West Yorkshire.

The BBC reported that both the victim and the student were on a night bus service that unexpectedly stopped in Morley, Leeds, while they both needed to get home to Bradford on March 25.

“The 29-year-old postgraduate student tricked her into sharing a taxi before luring her into his accommodation and attacking her in a locked toilet,” the BBC report stated, quoting Bradford Crown Court proceedings.

Okoronta, originally from Nigeria, must also serve three years on an extended licence and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life,” the report added.

According to the prosecution, the victim’s phone battery had died after she got off the bus, and Okoronta offered to share a taxi to Bradford Interchange.

However, the taxi went to his flat instead, where he persuaded her to go inside and then locked her in a toilet, the BBC reported.

After the assault, the report noted that the teenager managed to escape, stopped a passerby, and used their phone to call the police.

In a victim impact statement read in court, the teenager stated, “This incident has turned my life upside down. I have flashbacks of what happened to me. I have nightmares — one minute I feel fine, and the next minute it all comes back.”

Judge Sophie McKone told the defendant, “I am satisfied that when you asked if she wanted to share your taxi to Bradford, you formulated a plan to get her back to your flat, where you could rape her.

“You concocted a reason for her to come into your flat. You are, I am clear, a dangerous sexual predator.”

West Yorkshire Police Detective Constable Sue Sutcliffe, the report said, commended the survivor.

“I would like to commend the victim in this case for her immense bravery in coming forward straight away to report this horrific crime.

“I would urge anyone who has been the victim of a sexual offence to please report it to us so we can take action,” she said.

This latest case comes amid increasing reports of Nigerians abroad being convicted for sexual offences.

In a similar case reported by the BBC in 2024, another Nigerian, Timilehin Olatunji, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a related crime.

He was convicted after the victim used an app on her phone to record audio evidence of the assault, which took place in the early hours of September 29, 2024.