Illegal immigrant who raped brain damaged woman and fathered her son is jailed

An illegal overstayer who raped a brain-damaged woman he was employed to care for – fathering her son – has been sentenced to twelve years and eight months imprisonment.

The Ghana-born 63 year-old took advantage of the vulnerable woman, 31, who has been disabled since being starved of oxygen at birth, when supposedly assisting at her home in Kennington, London.

The church-going assistant pastor, an illegal in the UK for over 21 years, pleaded guilty to raping the woman between February 1 and March 1 last year. 

The Court of Protection ordered that doctors could deliver the baby in November last year via caesarean section and the child is currently in the care of the local authority.

He also pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation, namely using a false identity to obtain employment with a cleaning company – earning £19,500.

The man was sentenced on Monday to twelve years and eight months behind bars.

Inner London Crown Court heard the victim’s IQ is between 39 and 45 and she is also autistic and epileptic and unable to look after herself.

‘She needs support walking for more than short distances and is incapable of independent living and incapable of communication, except for a few words,’ said the Recorder of Southwark Judge Usha Karu.

‘You were fully aware of her conditions and limitations and you were in a position of trust,’ the judge told him.

‘She would not have had the capacity to consent to sexual relations.’

The defendant and another carer were paid by Lambeth council, via the victim’s mother, to assist her when lockdown resulted in less visits to her local day centre.

She trusted the defendant, having previously dated him and knowing his connections with the church, but took her daughter to her GP when her stomach swelled up.

When the doctor confirmed the pregnancy all males who had access to the victim – including her brother – came under suspicion and the defendant even tried to shift the blame to two lodgers.

‘This was an attempt to deflect blame from himself and onto others,’ said prosecutor Gino Connors. 

‘He said he did not know who the father of the baby was.’

However DNA tests proved he was 41 million times more likely to be the father than anybody else.

In his immigration application he lied that he was ‘destitute’ and relying on the support of his pastor and possessed perfect English – despite a translator being needed in court.

He has a wife and six children in Ghana but claimed he was single with no dependents.

George Payne, defending, told the court: ‘He describes it as a spontaneous and unplanned act and takes responsibility and has shown genuine remorse.

‘He was clearly working illegally in this country and was sending money to Ghana to support a large family.

‘He had a respectable life and religion played a very important part of his existence.’

Describing the rape as a ‘life-changing event’ the victim’s mother said: ‘It has devastated my family. There is unbearable pain within my heart. It is heartbreaking that my daughter is unable to say what she endured.’

She also received ‘threatening letters’ from the defendant in the period before he was charged.

Judge Karu told the first-time offender: ‘She was aged thirty-one, but was really a child. This was the most serious breach of trust and you cast blame upon others.’