Nigerian Postgraduate Jailed 10 Years in UK for Raping Teen After Offering Taxi Ride

A 29-year-old Nigerian postgraduate student, Chiemka Okoronta, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in the United Kingdom for raping a 17-year-old girl he offered to help after her bus service ended unexpectedly in Leeds.

According to a BBC report on Monday, Okoronta, of Morley Street, Bradford, was convicted of three counts of rape at the Bradford Crown Court. He will also serve an additional three years on extended licence, be listed permanently on the sex offenders register, and is expected to be deported to Nigeria after completing his sentence.

The court heard that on March 25, the victim, who was heading home to Bradford, was stranded after her bus terminated at Morley. With her phone battery dead and little money left, she accepted Okoronta’s offer to share a taxi. However, he directed the driver to his flat, where he lured her inside and raped her in a locked toilet. The girl managed to escape and called the police using a passer-by’s phone.

In her statement, the victim said the attack had left her deeply traumatised, adding that she now suffers flashbacks and fears public spaces. Judge Sophie McKone described Okoronta as a “dangerous sexual predator” who preyed on a vulnerable teenager, saying he had planned the assault from the moment he offered to share a taxi.