International rugby player jailed after raping woman as she 'begged for her life'

An international rugby player who sought asylum in the UK after claiming he was gay has been jailed for four-and-a-half years for raping a woman at her flat. Ugandan winger Philip Pariyo, 32, played at the rugby sevens tournament at the Commonwealth Games in 2014, but went missing after the tournament and failed to return to his home country. He then claimed asylum in Britain, alleging he would be persecuted in Uganda for being homosexual. But he later had a pregnant girlfriend living in Cardiff, and went on to rape another woman.

A court heard Pariyo, who worked as a binman for Cardiff Council, repeatedly "badgered" his victim for sex before forcing himself upon her in June 2021. He then went with her to buy the morning-after pill the following day and asked to her buy condoms so they could have sex again. Pariyo denied rape but was found guilty following a trial at Cardiff Crown Court. In a victim impact statement, the woman said: "No one in the world should go through what I did, fighting and begging for my life. It has left lasting impacts on me, and has felt like an open wound that I can never heal from.

"It's made me feel dirty, numb and tainted. He invaded my body by force and branded me from within. He became an unwanted part of my body that I can't get rid of. No one should fight like their life depends on it for something as simple as consent.". In mitigation, John Ryan said he had sought asylum in the UK after he was accused of being a homosexual by a rugby coach and teammates, and would face "serious consequences" if he were returned to Uganda. The barrister said his client had a wife and three-year-old son who would suffer while he was in custody.

Pariyo was sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment. He will serve two thirds in custody before he is released to serve the remainder on licence. The 32-year-old was also made subject to sex offender notification requirements indefinitely. Judge Celia Hughes told him: "Someone with your physical strength and who played at such a high level in your sport should act as a role model to others. But instead you manhandled this woman as entirely as you wished. You pleaded not guilty even though you admitted having sex in your text messages. She will never be the same strong confident woman she was before she came to Cardiff to see you, because of your sexual greed." The court heard his asylum status would be "adversely affected" by his sentence.