A Ugandan rugby player who sought asylum in Wales has been jailed for raping a woman in Cardiff.
Cardiff Crown Court was told that Philip Pariyo, 32, had developed a close friendship with the woman before assaulting her in a city flat in June 2021.
Pariyo denied the allegations throughout the trial, but a jury found him guilty in December 2024. He had previously played for Uganda’s Rugby Sevens team in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow before going missing after the games.
During sentencing, a victim impact statement was read in court, in which the victim – who has lifelong anonymity – described the lasting physical and emotional trauma she has experienced due to the attack.
She 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.”
Pariyo originally arrived in the UK in 2014 as part of Uganda’s Rugby Sevens team for the Commonwealth Games. After the event, he was one of two players who disappeared, and by the following year, it was revealed that he had relocated to Cardiff.
He sought asylum in the UK and played rugby for St Peter’s Rugby Club in Roath while working in waste management for Cardiff Council. St Peter’s confirmed that Pariyo had not played for them for “at least nine years.”
His defense lawyer, John Ryan, argued that Pariyo had applied for asylum on the grounds of being accused of homosexuality, which is illegal in Uganda and carries severe consequences.
The court heard that Pariyo first met the woman at a funeral in Cardiff in 2019. Their friendship developed, and in 2021, they stayed together in Cardiff along with two other people, including Pariyo’s pregnant girlfriend.
Judge Celia Hughes stated that on the night of the attack, Pariyo persistently pressured the woman for sex, which she repeatedly refused. Ignoring her rejection, he proceeded to rape her.
During sentencing, Judge Hughes said: “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 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.”
Pariyo was sentenced to four and a half years in jail.
