Man jailed following attempted rape of woman in Warrington

A man has been jailed following an attempted rape of a woman in Warrington.

Damola Olateju appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday 12 December where he was sentenced to five years imprisonment.

The 37-year-old of Padgate Lane, Warrington, was found guilty of attempted rape at an earlier hearing. A jury found him not guilty of two counts of rape.

The court heard how a woman had attended a party in Warrington in the early hours of 20 December 2020 and believed that she had been spiked.

She disclosed that she believed she had also been raped as she had bruising over her body.

The victim was able to provide some names of people who had been at the party and an investigation began.

Officers identified Olateju as being at the party and arrested him on New Year’s Day 2021.

A deleted video was recovered from his mobile phone which showed him trying to persuade the victim to have sex with him while she is heard to repeatedly say ‘stop it’ and ‘get off me’.

In questioning Olateju had stated sex was consensual, but admitted that in the video he was ‘probably trying to have sex with her’.

He was subsequently charged in connection with the incident.

Detective Constable Rob Catterall said: “I would like to praise the courage of the victim in this case for coming forward and it is because of her that we have got the result we have today.

“We will do all we can to listen to victims of sexual offences and I hope that this sentence proves that we will follow every avenue open to us in order to bring perpetrators to justice.

“I hope that this sentence will bring comfort to the victim knowing that Olateju will be behind bars for his actions.”

You can report a sexual offence by calling 101 or via the Cheshire Police website.