Nigerian Student Jailed for Attempting to Meet Underage Girl

(Anderson Ishiekwene. Photo by BBC)

An international student has been sentenced to three years in prison after being caught by an online paedophile-hunting group while attempting to meet someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl for s+x.

According to Newcastle Crown Court, 25-year-old Nigerian national Anderson Ishiekwene was arrested in Washington eight days after initiating s+xually explicit conversations with an online decoy profile.

Prosecutor Cole Cockburn told the court that on 2 January, Ishiekwene contacted a social media profile belonging to what he believed was a 14-year-old girl, with the conversation later continuing on a messaging app.

Over the following days, Ishiekwene reportedly asked the girl about her school and uniform before steering the conversation toward intimate questions about her body.

The court heard that he requested photos from her and sent an explicit image of himself, while also repeatedly urging her to delete their conversations throughout the exchanges.

According to the prosecutor, whenever she declined to send him pictures, Ishiekwene claimed it was unfair and insisted that exchanging such images was a normal part of being in a relationship.

The pair reportedly arranged to meet at The Galleries in Washington on 10 January, after Ishiekwene expressed a desire to kiss and touch the girl s+xually “like lovers.”

However, upon arriving at the location by bus, he was confronted by members of the online hunter group before police were called to arrest him, the court heard.

Although Ishiekwene denied that his intention was to meet the girl for s+xual purposes, he was convicted following a three-day trial.

During sentencing, Judge Robert Spragg said the s+xual activity Ishiekwene had intended for 10 January was merely a precursor to full s£xual intercourse at a later date.

The court further heard that he is likely to face automatic deportation after completing his three-year prison sentence.

He was also ordered to register as a s£x offender and remains subject to an indefinite S£xual Harm Prevention Order.