I thought he’d kill me, woman recounts rape by UK-based Nigerian jailed 17 years

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A 20-year-old woman has recounted how a Nigerian man dragged her into a wooded area in Wrexham, Wales, and raped her after offering to walk her home from a night out.

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The woman, who has remained anonymous, spoke about the September 7, 2025, attack in an account published by the Daily Mail on Wednesday.

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Gift Oladele, 24, was sentenced to 17 years in prison in April after being convicted of rape and sexual assault. Oladele approached the teenager as she walked home and told her he was heading in the same direction before offering to accompany her.

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She said that when they reached an isolated area, he grabbed her by the mouth and forced her into the woods.

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“He was a lot bigger than I was – I tried pushing him away, but he overpowered me,” she said.

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“He was covering my mouth. I was trying to get his arm off me, but he wasn’t budging. That’s when he raped me violently.”

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The woman said she feared for her life during the attack after Oladele asked whether it was her first time being raped.

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“My brain just switched into survival mode – it was weird. It was either I do what he says, and I get home to my mum, or he is going to kill me,” she said.

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She said Oladele hit her six times in the head and left bruises on her body before reporting the assault.

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“When he finished, he turned around and said, ‘I think you’ve had enough now. At least you have been raped by someone good-looking’,” she recalled.

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Oladele allegedly threatened to find her if she reported the rape and also threatened to take photographs of her and post them online.

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The woman, however, told her parents about the attack immediately after arriving home at about 3.30am, prompting her father to call the police.

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“I felt numb. I was hysterical. My brain couldn’t figure out what had just happened,” she said.

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Oladele was arrested the following day at his cousin’s home in Wrexham. Police found that he had attempted to hide a mobile phone, which later revealed searches relating to sexual attacks.

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PUNCH had reported in April that Oladele was sentenced at Caernarfon Crown Court to a total of 25 years, comprising 17 years in prison and an extended licence period of eight years.n

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He was convicted at Mold Crown Court in March after denying rape and sexual assault and claiming the victim had consented. He was also handed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a restraining order protecting the victim for life.

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At the time of the attack, Oladele was already on bail over another rape allegation in Manchester in November 2024. He had previously been jailed in 2022 for a sexually motivated attack.

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Oladele, a Nigerian citizen born in Italy, had also previously avoided deportation to Nigeria after challenging his removal on human rights grounds.

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Following his earlier prison sentence, the UK authorities sought to deport him, but he appealed, arguing that his removal would breach his right to private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

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An immigration tribunal subsequently ruled in his favour, finding that deportation would be disproportionate. The Home Office later made two appeals, both of which were rejected.

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The victim’s mother questioned the decision, saying, “Where are my daughter’s rights? That’s what I want to know. She has the right to walk home after a night out without being raped.”

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Wrexham Chief Inspector Caroline Mullen-Hurst described Oladele as “a dangerous predator” and praised the victim for her courage in reporting the attack.

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She said, “He demonstrated no remorse for his crimes after forcing her to relive the traumatic experience through a trial.”

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The woman said the assault continued to affect her mental and physical well-being, including leaving her struggling to eat.

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“There were numerous times a day when I would be hysterically crying because I didn’t want to be here anymore,” she said.

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