By Akinywnde Soji-Ojo
A 28-year-old Nigerian man, Kenneth Ajilore, has been jailed for six and half years for raping a woman inside a car in Hackney, London.
Ajilore, of Prince George Road, N16, was sentenced at Hendon Magistrates’ Court, Nightingale, on Thursday, March 24.
In a statement, Metropolitan Police said that Ajilore was found guilty following a trial at the same court on March 14, 2022.
“Detectives began an investigation after they were called by a woman, in her 20s, who’d been raped in a car after a night out in Stoke Newington in the early hours of 17th September, 2021.
“She reported being invited into a vehicle by a man who then drove her to different locations across London.
“Later the same day, the woman visited a police station to report the attack. Specially-trained officers provided her with support and immediately started an investigation.
“Thanks to the woman’s resourcefulness, detectives were able to use photos taken on her phone of the vehicle to trace it back to Ajilore who had hired it on the morning of 16 September,” the statement said.
To help prove Ajilore was responsible for the attack, officers took statements from multiple witnesses, examined extensive mobile phone data, recovered CCTV footage and carried out DNA analysis which linked Ajilore to the woman.
He was subsequently arrested three days later on September 21,w021.
The police said evidence officers collected were overwhelming and led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorising charges against Ajilore.
DC Patrick Godin, the investigating officer, said: “I would like to praise this brave woman for her courage in coming forward and seeing this to court to secure Ajilore’s conviction. Her strength is inspirational and I hope it is of some comfort to her to know Ajilore was found guilty.
“All women and girls have the right to feel safe, at any time, day or night, in public or at home. I am pleased our investigation has resulted in Ajilore being jailed.”
