A former Nigerian model, Utseoritselaju Uwatse, 25, has been sentenced by a Central Criminal Court jury, led by Justice Paul Burns, to four years imprisonment for raping a fellow college student in Ireland.
Uwatse, of Avonmore Road, Raheen, Limerick, was found guilty of one count of a rape charge in March 2023 for the offence that took place on April 20, 2018, the Irish Mirror reported on Monday.
Detective Garda McGrath told prosecuting counsel Conor Devally that a group of college students gathered for drinks in Cratloe Student Village before going into Limerick City for a night out on the day of the incident.
McGrath said one of the members of the group was the victim, who said in her evidence that the group went to Smyth’s pub and then onto Molloy’s late bar in Limerick, where she met Uwatse, whom she knew socially.
CCTV footage, which was played in court, showed when Uwatse and the victim hugged each other that night.
During court proceedings, it was said that Uwatse picked the victim up, carried her into a bedroom, and laid her on the bed, where she remembered him removing her shoes before falling asleep. She woke early the following morning, and her clothes did not feel right with the convict beside her.
Uwatse then asked her if she “was on a pill?” She found this question unusual, and he later told her that they had sex and the condom broke. She became upset after realizing that she didn’t consent to it.
