An African refugee has been jailed for four years for raping his ex’s 13-year-old niece at her home in Adelaide and filming the horrific attack.
Kouadio Benjamin Saint Kouakou, 34, was sentenced in the District Court of South Australia late last month after pleading guilty to two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 14 years and one count of production of child exploitation material.
The court heard that Kouakou turned up at his victim’s home in March last year, told her younger brother and cousin to go to bed, and then forced himself on the young girl on a couch in the garage.
He did not wear a condom, and a neighbour reported hearing screaming coming from inside the house that “sounded like a child in pain”. After the attack the girl called her mother and told her what had happened, and Kouakou asked her why she had done that, and told her to wipe her genitals with a towel.
Kouakou was arrested the next day and two videos of the rape were found on his phone.
Judge Geraldine Davidson noted in sentencing that Kouakou arrived in Western Australia from the Ivory Coast on a refugee visa at the age of 19, and in 2018 moved to South Australia to play for the Adelaide City Soccer Club.
She also noted Kouakou reported being “quite lonely” in custody as he is cut off from his mother and siblings in Africa and now fears he may not be able to sponsor them to come to Australia, and that psychologist Dr Lorraine Lim found he did “not meet the diagnostic criteria of a paedophilic disorder”.
But she called Kouakou’s crimes “horrendous”, and referred to a victim impact statement where his victim said “she hates herself for what has happened” and that the attack “changed the relationship that she has with her mother”.
“You forced a 13-year-old girl who viewed you as her uncle to have sexual intercourse with you on a number of occasions, over a relatively short period of time. You filmed some of the sexual interactions,” she told Kouakou in sentencing.
“This occurred when she was home alone with her younger brother and cousin, and there were no other adults in the house. Your offending against her has had a significant impact upon her, and will continue to do so.”
In sentencing she took into account Kouakou’s age, lack of related criminal history, isolation from family and friends in custody, good prospects for rehabilitation and guilty please and gave him a head sentence of six years, six months and two years, with a four-year non-parole period, beginning on April 1, 2025.
Header image: Left, right, Kouadio Benjamin Saint Kouakou (Facebook).
