Opemipo Jaji 30

Description

An 18-year-old man has been jailed for life, with a minimum term of eight years, for raping an 11-year-old girl in Jubilee Park, Enfield, north London, in November.

Opemipo Jaji, from Edmonton, denied the attack, which occurred as the girl walked home from school after getting off a bus.

Jaji had prior convictions for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl a year earlier and for making indecent images of children.

During sentencing, Mr Justice Singh called Jaji "manipulative and a liar." He considered a lesser sentence, such as a determinate term with an extension, but concluded: "However, in all the circumstances of this case, I do not believe that the public would be adequately protected from you if you were the subject of any sentence other than a life sentence."

BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw noted outside court that Jaji showed remorse only after his April guilty verdict. The judge added: "I approach the degree of your apparent remorse with some caution. I had the opportunity to observe you when you gave evidence at your trial. It is clear to me that you are well capable of lying and of manipulating others around you to suit your own interests."

Jaji, who had been on the same bus after visiting probation, followed the girl. Feeling threatened, she crossed the road three times and ran, but he grabbed her, forced a glove into her mouth, and raped her in a secluded park area during a three-hour ordeal.

The girl testified via videolink. Mr Justice Singh told Jaji he had "left her with terrible emotional scars," adding: "One can only hope that, with the courage that she has already shown in giving evidence at this trial, and with the support of her family and friends, she can begin the process of recovery."

Six months before the rape, Jaji received an 18-month supervision order for making indecent images. A year prior, he sexually assaulted and robbed a 12-year-old on a housing estate, receiving a 10-month detention and training order, which he breached.