Hope James
A Nigerian football coach, Emmanuel Igwebuike, have been found guilty of sexually assaulting seven teenage boys, and have been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The 35-year-old was also handed a lifelong sexual harm prevention order and will also be on the Sex Offenders Register for life. Reports from the UK said the Inner London Crown Court sentenced him after the same court found him guilty in April of 22 counts of sexual assault following a five-week trial.
Igwebuike, who was at the time acting in a self-appointed role as a football coach in his own football academy based in the Stockwell and Putney areas of South London, and was not affiliated with the English Football Association(FA) or any local football club, assaulted teenagers who were between the ages of 14 and 18 years and the offences were perpetrated between June 2019 and April 2021.
He is reported to have committed the assault after he managed to build a trusting relationship with the boys with promises of furthering their football careers and providing them with football opportunities.
According to the Police, at the time of the offences being committed, none of the boys knew of abuse to the others and thought they were the only ones being sexually assaulted.
Although he was charged with assaulting seven boys, the police made it known that at the time the allegations were levelled against him, the names of other possible victims and witnesses to Igwebuike’s crimes were mentioned, and urged anyone else who was a victim to come forward.