Description
A sex offender who "ruined" a girl's life after trying to rape her in Devon has been jailed.
Friday Uguru, of no fixed abode, attempted to sexually abuse a 12-year-old in Axminster in November 2017.
The 50-year-old, who previously lived in Pinhoe Road, Exeter, was arrested over the attack but fled the county after being released while under investigation.
Uguru was jailed for nine years and six months at Exeter Crown Court.
He was also given a one-year extended licence.
At the end of his sentence, Uguru will be deported as he was in the UK illegally from Nigeria after arriving on a visitor's visa and overstaying.
Devon and Cornwall Police said Uguru was rearrested in London in February 2023.
He denied a charge of attempted rape but was found guilty by the jury at his trial earlier this year.
'Messed up my world'
His victim read out a statement in which she said Uguru's attempted rape had blighted her adolescence and led her to drug abuse, self-harm and suicide attempts.
She told the court: "It was like a bomb that went off in my life. It messed up my whole world.
"I did not think I would make it past 14. You have ruined my life."
The court was told Uguru travelled to Axminster by train on the night of the attack and assaulted the girl in an upstairs bedroom while her mother was cooking downstairs.
The girl got away from him before he completed the rape and ran down to raise the alarm, a jury heard.
'Courage and resilience'
Uguru had claimed DNA evidence found in the victim's underwear was part of a plot to frame him, but this was described as ludicrous and preposterous by the judge.
Det Con Jonathan Stephens, from Devon and Cornwall Police's local safeguarding investigation team, said after sentencing: "I welcome the result and I am grateful for the courage and resilience shown by the victim and witnesses in this case, and for supporting this investigation over a protracted period of time.
"I hope this case reassures the community how seriously the police take reports of child sexual offences and gives people the courage to come forward in future."