A teenage girl was left stranded on a bus when her phone battery died when sick sexual predator Chiemka Okoronta offered to share a cab with her, but took her back to his flat and attacked her

A sexual predator who lured a teenage girl back to his flat, locked her in the bathroom and raped her has been jailed. Chiemka Okoronta, 29, was on a bus with his victim when it terminated early, leaving her stranded as her phone battery had died.

Okoronta offered to share a taxi with the 17-year-old girl and she even gave him £4.90 to cover her half of the fare from Morley, Leeds, to Bradford bus station. But he instead booked the cab to his flat, where he attacked the girl.

Prosecutor Graham O’Sullivan said the teenager was persuaded to go inside and subsequently locked inside a toilet. Evil Okoronta then followed her in the toilet and locked the door on March 26 this year, Bradford Crown Court was told.

After the attack, the girl managed to run and get help from passers-by who gave her their phone to call 999. Okoronta was found guilty of three counts of rape and causing a women over 16 or over to engage in sexual activity after a trial earlier this year.

In a victim impact statement read out during his sentencing on Monday, the girl said: “This incident has turned my life upside down. I have flashbacks of what happened to me. I have nightmares.

“One minute I feel fine and the next minute it all comes back, I get upset and then frustrated and angered by what’s happened. I would miss arrangements to meet friends. I usually stay in my room and avoid talking to people.

“I still don’t like leaving my room at all. When I was told he was found guilty, I felt a sense of relief knowing that this person wouldn’t be able to do the same thing he did with me to anyone else.”

Okoronta, originally from Nigeria, was jailed for 10 years and must also serve three years on extended licence. He must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and he was told he was likely to be deported following his sentence.

Judge Sophie McKone told Okoronta he is “a dangerous sexual predator”, adding: “You knew she was a vulnerable person, miles from where she needed to be. You knew she needed to get to Bradford.

“She was 17 and had little money and her phone was dead. I’m satisfied when you asked her to share a taxi you formulated a plan to get her back to your address where you could rape her. This was a sustained incident. The complainant was clearly very vulnerable.”