Ugandan rugby player jailed for rape in Wales

A Ugandan rugby player who claimed asylum in Wales has been jailed for four and a half years after raping a woman in Cardiff. BBC News reports that Cardiff Crown Court heard how Philip Pariyo became close friends with the woman involved, before he attacked her in a flat in the city in June 2021. Pariyo had repeatedly denied raping the woman, but was found guilty of the offence in December 2024. He had represented his country in Rugby Sevens in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow before disappearing. In a letter addressed to Judge Celia Hughes, he said he was ‘genuinely sorry to those who suffered from my actions’. An impact statement written by the woman was read to the court, in which she described the long-term physical and mental impact the attack had had on her. Pariyo first went to the UK in 2014, when he was part of the Ugandan Rugby Sevens team for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. He was one of two players who disappeared after the games, and the following year it emerged he had moved to Cardiff. There he had claimed asylum and was playing for St Peter's Rugby Club in Roath, before becoming a waste management worker for Cardiff Council. St Peter's confirmed he has not played for them for ‘at least nine years’. Defending Pariyo, John Ryan said his client had claimed asylum on the basis of being accused of being homosexual, and feared returning to Uganda, where it is illegal to be homosexual.

Full BBC News report