Asylum seeker jailed over rape of 15-year-old girl following several failed deportation attempts

19 November 2024, 14:43

A migrant who was granted asylum in the UK after multiple failed attempts to deport him has been jailed for more than 10 years over the rape of a 15-year-old girl.

Anicet Mayela, 41, carried out the attack in December last year while drunk, with the attack leading to the teenage girl falling pregnant, a judge at Oxford Crown Court heard on Tuesday.

Mayela arrived in the UK in 2004 and fought his return to the Republic of Congo where he claimed his life was at risk.

He had pleaded guilty to a single count of rape in April, but subsequently expressed his desire to change his plea after professing his innocence, blaming unsound legal advice.

The attempt to vacate his original plea was rejected by a judge in September.

Appearing in court, Judge Maria Lamb sentenced Mayela to 10 years and 10 months in prison.

It comes as pictures of Mayela protesting outside a detention centre in 2005 surfaced, with a sign reading 'migrants are not criminals' hung around his neck.

Mayela was pictured supporting protests outside the Campsfield House detention centre, where asylum seekers were being held in custody prior to deportation from Britain.

The Congolese national was granted asylum in the UK following several failed attempts to deport him.

Mayela was first interviewed by police on March 13 this year, when he made "full admissions, but denied using any force on the complainant".

Judge Maria Lamb, sentencing, told 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.

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"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," the judge continued.

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."

The 41-year-old, formerly of Oxford, appeared in the dock dressed in prisoners' grey tracksuit, and was assisted throughout the hearing by a French interpreter.

Edward Lucas, prosecuting, told the judge the teenage victim had an abortion in the months following the rape.

Several family members watched from the public gallery as he was sentenced.

After Mayela's court appearance in April this year, The Sun reported several unsuccessful attempts had previously been made to remove him from the UK before he was given permission to stay in the country.

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.

According to an article published by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), an "anti-racist think-tank", in 2005, Mayela was served three removal notices and left with a broken hand during one deportation attempt.

Another flight is said to have been grounded after the airline's cabin crew refused to carry him.

The IRR report said Mayela paid an agent to help him flee his home country in 2004 because his life was in danger and that he lived in Plymouth while his initial asylum claim was considered.

But this was refused and his first appeal was dismissed by the courts later that year. By 2005 he was being held in immigration detention centres while attempts were made to deport him but he was later released.

Mayela will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence before he can be released on licence.

He was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for life.