Nigerian Student Jailed for Trying to Meet ‘14-Year-Old Girl’ He Met Online

A 25-year-old Nigerian international student, Anderson Ishiekwene, has been sentenced to three years in prison after he was caught by an online paedophile hunter group while attempting to meet someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl for sex.

According to Newcastle Crown Court, Ishiekwene was arrested in Washington just eight days after he began exchanging sexually explicit messages with what turned out to be a decoy profile online.

Prosecutor Cole Cockburn told the court that the contact began on January 2, when Ishiekwene messaged the Facebook profile of who he believed was a 14-year-old girl, with their conversation later continuing on WhatsApp.

Over the following days, he asked about her school and uniform before steering the conversation toward more intimate questions about her body, the court heard.

He is also said to have asked her for photos and sent an explicit image of himself, while repeatedly urging her to delete their conversations.

According to Cockburn, whenever the ‘girl’ declined to send pictures, Ishiekwene insisted this was ‘unfair’ and claimed that exchanging such images was ‘a normal thing for people to do in a relationship.’

The pair eventually arranged to meet at The Galleries in Washington on January 10, after Ishiekwene said he wanted to kiss and touch the girl ‘like lovers.’

When he arrived by bus, however, he was confronted by members of the online hunter group before police arrived and arrested him.

Although Ishiekwene denied that his intention was to meet the girl for sexual purposes, he was found guilty following a three-day trial.

During sentencing, Judge Robert Spragg said the sexual activity Ishiekwene had intended for that day was merely a ‘precursor’ to having full sexual intercourse at a later date.

The court also heard that Ishiekwene is likely to face automatic deportation after completing his sentence.

He has additionally been ordered to register as a sex offender and will remain subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.