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A Ugandan rugby participant who claimed asylum in Wales has been jailed for 4 and a half years after raping a lady in Cardiff.
Cardiff Crown Court heard how Philip Pariyo, 32, grew to become shut pals with the lady concerned, earlier than he attacked her in a flat within the metropolis in June 2021.
Pariyo had repeatedly denied raping the lady, however was discovered responsible of the offence in December 2024.
He had represented his nation in Rugby Sevens within the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow earlier than disappearing.
In a letter addressed to Judge Celia Hughes, he stated he was “genuinely sorry to those who suffered from my actions”.
An impression assertion written by the lady was learn to the courtroom, by which she described the long-term bodily and psychological impression the assault had had on her.
“No one in the world should go through what I did, fighting and begging for my life. It has left lasting impacts on me, and has felt like an open wound that I can never heal from.
“It’s made me really feel soiled, numb and tainted. He invaded my physique by pressure and branded me from inside. He grew to become an undesirable a part of my physique that I am unable to eliminate.
“No one should fight like their life depends on it for something as simple as consent.”
Pariyo first got here to the UK in 2014, when he was a part of the Ugandan Rugby Sevens workforce for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
He was certainly one of two gamers who disappeared after the Games, and the next 12 months it emerged he had moved to Cardiff.
There he had claimed asylum and was enjoying for St Peter’s Rugby Club in Roath, earlier than changing into a waste administration employee for Cardiff Council.
Defending, John Ryan stated Pariyo had claimed asylum on the premise of being accused of being gay, and feared returning to Uganda, the place it’s unlawful to be gay.
The courtroom heard that he first met the lady in 2019 at a funeral in Cardiff.
After that the pair grew to become pals, and in 2021 Pariyo and the lady stayed within the metropolis with two different individuals – together with Pariyo’s girlfriend, who was pregnant on the time.
Judge Celia Hughes stated that on the night time of the assault, Pariyo had “badgered” the lady for intercourse, who in flip refused.
He ignored the refusal, and raped her.
The courtroom heard how the pair went to a chemist the subsequent morning to purchase the morning after tablet, and Pariyo steered shopping for condoms, implying he wished to have intercourse together with her later that day.
Sentencing, Judge Celia Hughes known as it an “appalling attack and violation of a woman you called a friend”.
She stated his not responsible plea was within the face of robust proof in opposition to him, and led to the lady having to relive the ordeal in open courtroom.
“Someone with your physical strength and who played at such a high level in your sport should act as a role model to others. But instead you manhandled this woman as entirely as you wished.
“You pleaded not responsible although you admitted having intercourse in your textual content messages.
“She will never be the same strong confident woman she was before she came to Cardiff to see you, because of your sexual greed.”
Judge Celia Hughes additionally stated the sentence would “adversely affect his asylum claim”.
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