Migrant facing jail after raping teenage girl told he cannot change plea

Anicet Mayela was granted asylum in the UK after attempts to deport him reportedly failed.

Anicet Mayela during a protest at Campsfield House detention centre near Oxford (Simon Evans/PA) (PA Archive)

A migrant facing jail after raping a 15-year-old girl has been told he cannot change his plea to not guilty.

Anicet Mayela, 40, admitted to the attack of December last year at Oxford Crown Court in April.

The Congolese national, who was granted asylum in the UK following several failed attempts to deport him, appeared at the same court on Thursday in a bid to vacate his guilty plea after claiming he had not had proper legal advice.

From the moment of his arrest he was firmly of the view that he was going to plead guilty. I will not accept the vacating of his plea

Judge Nigel Daly

But rejecting his request, Judge Nigel Daly said Mayela had made an “unequivocal plea of guilty” at the last hearing, which he could “see no reason to vacate”.

“From the moment of his arrest he was firmly of the view that he was going to plead guilty. I will not accept the vacating of his plea,” Judge Daly said.

Mayela, of Desborough Crescent, Oxford, was joined in the dock by a French interpreter.

Several family members watched the short hearing from the public gallery.

He is due to be sentenced on November 13.

After his court appearance earlier this year, The Sun reported several unsuccessful attempts had previously been made to remove him from the UK before he was given permission to stay in the country.

It is understood the Home Office initially refused Mayela’s asylum claim in 2004 but he successfully challenged the decision in the courts and was eventually granted leave to remain on appeal in 2010.

According to an article published by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) in 2005, he was served three removal notices and left with a broken hand during one deportation attempt while another flight is said to have been grounded after the airline’s cabin crew refused to carry him.

The IRR report said Mayela paid an agent to help him flee his home country in 2004 because his life was in danger and that he initially lived in Plymouth while his initial asylum claim was considered.

But this was refused and his first appeal was dismissed by the courts later that year. By 2005 he was being held in immigration detention centres while attempts were made to deport him but he was later released.

Mayela, thought to be a former economics student, also appears to have supported protests outside detention centres that same year.

He should expect a custodial sentence, the judge said.