A Co Donegal-based asylum seeker, who was forced to fight as a child soldier in the Liberian civil war, has been jailed for four years at the crown court in Derry for rape.
Henry Ojaiko (19), Cliff View Hostel, Donegal town, fled Liberia two years ago after he had been shot in the leg during the war. The court was told he was forcibly recruited when he was 10 after his parents had been killed.
Ojaiko, who has applied for asylum here, raped the woman during a students' party in a house at Argyle Street in Derry on June 16th last year.
A prosecution barrister said that Ojaiko put his hand over his victim's mouth during the rape so that she could not cry for help.
"He came to the Republic of Ireland in 2005 and he is the subject of an application for asylum," the barrister said. "He is now the subject of a deportation order and he will be deported from the UK to the Republic of Ireland after he completes his sentence.
"The fact that he has been convicted of this serious offence in this jurisdiction will be brought to the attention of the authorities in the Republic," he said.
Judge Corinne Philpott QC said she took Ojaiko's background into consideration. "It is obvious to me that you have a dysfunctional background. You lost your parents in Liberia, you were an orphan and you became a child soldier. That is bound to have had an effect on your general view of how people are treated.
"You will be returned upon release to the authorities in the Republic where you will be held until deportation back to Liberia."