A “poster boy” for the anti-deportation movement who held a “migrants are not criminals” sign at a protest proved to be just that, and pleaded guilty to raping a child after his own deportation was prevented.
Congolese migrant Anicet Mayela, who came to the United Kingdom in 2004 as an asylum seeker has pleaded guilty to raping a 15-year-old girl.
Mayela was supposed to have been removed from the country nearly 20 years ago in 2005, when he was placed onto a deportation flight back to the Republic of the Congo. But the crew of the Air France flight — decried as “do-gooders” in one UK newspaper report for the consequences of their actions — refused to fly to Brazzaville with a deportee onboard and he stayed in the United Kingdom. The man won a right to remain shortly afterwards in court on human rights grounds.
Now, The Oxford Mail has gamely reported that an “Oxford Man” has pleaded guilty to raping a girl through the month of December of 2023. Anicet Mayela appeared last week and spoke only to confirm his name and plead guilty, he will appear again on May 10th for sentencing.
Per the report, the Crown Prosecution Service “asked for Mayela’s level of dangerousness to be assessed due to ‘the gravity’ of the offence”, in light of the attack on a 15-year-old girl.
Broadcaster LBC notes Mayela had been a “poster boy for anti-deportation campaigners” and had held a “migrants are not criminals” sign at an anti-detention protest after his failed deportation in 2005.
