African Child Asylum-Seeker Grows Into Teen Rapist

A Congolese child asylum-seeker, who grew up to be a teenage rapist, was locked-up for four years today for attacking a 15 year-old girl at their school.

The 16 year-old A-level student, who cannot be identified, tricked the girl into a locked music room at their Catford school in South-East London and raped her after she rejected his persistent pleas for a date.

"He had persisted in trying to contact her for a sexual liaison," prosecutor Mr. Richard Milne told Croydon Crown Court (pictured). "She said: 'no' which made him angry and he continued texting to contrive a meeting.

"By the ruse of removing her folder from the dining area and then told she could collect it from the music room the victim ended up alone with the defendant.

"He had obtained security keys to the room and the door was shut behind the victim and he locked the door.

"He grabbed her around the hips and tried to put his hand under her skirt," explained the prosecutor. "She told him to stop, but he would not listen.

"He pulled down her knickers, she screamed and was telling him to stop, but he continued."

No racially-aggravated charges were brought in relation to the offence against the white victim.

The defendant denied, but was convicted by a jury of raping the girl, who was in court for the sentencing, during Easter term in 2010.

He was only five months old when his family fled Congo and were granted asylum after claiming the boy's father was involved in the country's civil war.

Outside court the defendant's mother, who has seven children complained: "He is black and the girl is white. That is why he was found guilty."

Judge Simon Pratt announced: "He got her up to the music room behind the locked door, where she was isolated and vulnerable.

"An aggravating feature is the amount of manipulation in persuading her upstairs into a room behind a locked door.

"The emotional legacy of what you did to her will be long-lasting."

The defendant was sentenced to four years detention and will have to sign the sex offender's register for a period to be decided.