A court in Yvelines near Paris has handed a jail sentence to a former Nigerian international, Godwin Okpara, after finding him guilty of raping a young female compatriot he brought to France four years ago.
Judiciary sources indicated that Okpara had alleged that he had adopted the young girl. He later forced the girl to have sex with him several times in the garage where she slept.
The former international refuted the rape allegation, saying the girl, who was 13 when she arrived in France, consented to having sex with him.
The same court also tried Okpara`s wife and mother-in-law of practicing "rape with torture and barbarism" by aiding and abetting the footballer in inflicting sexual violence on the girl.
Okpara, 33, was a member of the Nigerian team that featured in the final of the African Cup of Nations in 2000.
He manned the defence position between 1999 and 2001 when he played for the French club, Paris Saint- Germain.
He won the French League Cup in 1997 with Strasbourg before moving to Standard Liege of Belgium, where he remained until last year.
Published: 2005-08-24 06:35:39
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