🔴 PREDATOR CONVICTED OF WOODLAND RAPE AFTER DEPORTATION HALTED

Nigerian whose deportation for previous crimes was blocked raped woman in Wrexham woodland & told victim to “pretend it never happened” as judge warns lengthy custodial sentence next month.

A 24-year-old man has been warned he faces a substantial custodial sentence after being convicted of rape and sexual assault against a 19-year-old woman in North Wales.

Gift Oladele was found guilty following a trial at Mold Crown Court of attacking the woman in woodland near Wrexham in September last year, as she walked home from a night out.

The court heard Oladele approached the complainant, placed his hand over her mouth and forced her into nearby woods, where he removed her clothing and raped her. During the attack, he instructed her to act as though she was consenting and, afterwards, told her to “pretend it never happened”.

He was convicted of rape and sexual assault by a jury.

Remanding him in custody ahead of sentencing, His Honour Judge Simon Mills told the defendant: “I will be passing a long prison sentence upon you. This is a very serious case.”

The court was told the offence was committed after Oladele had previously been released from custody for an earlier violent offence involving a lone woman in Manchester.

In December 2022, he was jailed for two years for false imprisonment after detaining a woman in broad daylight in an incident in which she feared she would be raped.

Following that conviction, the Home Office made a deportation order against Oladele in 2023. However, the order was later overturned on appeal by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.

The tribunal found that his removal would breach his rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to private and family life. The court heard Oladele had lived in the United Kingdom since the age of 11, having been born in Italy, and was considered socially and culturally integrated.

In allowing the appeal, Tribunal Judge James A Simpson concluded the case was “finely balanced” but found that factors including Oladele’s upbringing in the UK, his lack of ties to Nigeria, and evidence of engagement with rehabilitation were sufficient to outweigh the public interest in deportation.

A probation assessment prepared in October 2023 had assessed him as presenting a low risk of reoffending.

The Crown Prosecution Service case established that, notwithstanding that assessment, Oladele went on to commit the offences in Wrexham months later.

A Home Office spokesperson, responding to the case, said: “This is an absolutely horrific case. Foreign nationals who commit crimes should be in no doubt that we will seek to remove them from the UK at the earliest opportunity.”

Oladele remains in custody and is due to be sentenced at Mold Crown Court next month.