SpindriftA man who raped a 14-year-old girl after taking her hostage while on bail for grooming two other children has been jailed for ten years.
Scott Ijomanta put the teenager through the ordeal at his flat in Maryhill, Glasgow in August 2024.
The 38-year-old – who claimed he was just 12 while trawling Snapchat for young girls – told his victim at one stage: “I can see that you are terrified – it just makes me want to kill you.”
The teenager eventually escaped the locked flat, badly hurt, and made it home.
The girl’s father – who knew his daughter as “bright” and usually “full of energy” – immediately noticed something was wrong.
She eventually confided in her dad how she had suffered at the hands of Ijomanta.
In testimony – which upset some jurors – the man said: “I held her hand and told her it was not her fault.”
Ijomanta struck a year after he had bought train tickets for a 12-year-old girl and her 13-year-old friend to travel from England to Glasgow – but police found the pair before they made the journey.
The judge told Ijomanta: “You were found guilty on a unanimous basis.
“You have been convicted of the rape of a 14-year-old child, sending sexual communications to children, buying them tickets to encourage them to Scotland.
“This type of offending is totally and utterly unacceptable. This can never be tolerated.
“The children were put in a very difficult situation. I can only hope, in due course, that they will be able to move on with their lives and put all this behind them.”
The young victim had agreed to meet after they had been in contact on Snapchat.
She told him her age, but Ijomanta initially pretended he was much younger and that his name was Joseph.
He gave his address and offered to pay for a taxi.
After arriving, he locked the door and kept the key on him.
Ijomanta offered her a bar of chocolate and a drink thought to have been alcohol.
The court heard how soon after “things changed”.
He flew into a rage, claiming the girl had stolen his phone and glasses.
Ijomanta grabbed the teenager and started molesting her.
She recalled how the attacker stated to her: “I am going to rape you. I am sorry for the things that I am going to make you do.”
Ijomanta also lied that he had cancer, stating she could go to the police as he apparently “did not have long to live anyway”.
He slapped her after she pled for mercy and hit her again when she began to cry.
Ijomanta put his hand over her mouth to stop her cries for help. He also grabbed her by the neck.
He said: “Why would you come to my house if you did not expect this to happen. I do not know why you are acting so shocked.”
Ijomanta further threatened: “If you scream any louder, you are going to make my neighbours hear. If they do, that is going to put me in bother.”
He warned he would turn up at her school, that he would rape her mother and hurt her father if she told them.
The young victim eventually got free and out of the flat. She was so desperate to get away that she ran across the road without checking for traffic.
The victim got home – her father was worried, and she initially claimed she had been chased in the street.
The dad noticed his daughter’s leggings were inside out.
He recalled: “It did not feel right. I was not quite sure what was going on, but I did not want to push.”
After the victim didn’t eat her dinner, the man decided to talk to the teenager, stating that “no matter what happened”, he was not “going to be angry”.
She told him of her ordeal.
The dad described his daughter as “worried, concerned, absolutely devastated”.
He said: “There was no spark of life. She was not animated in any way. I held her hand and told her it was not her fault.”
Jurors heard the girl recall the attack in pre-recorded testimony and police interviews.
Prosecutor Chris McKenna said: “I suggest her evidence was a compelling, unvarnished account of a 14-year-old girl simply telling you what happened.”
The trial also heard how Ijomanta had already preyed on two other children online in 2023.
He had initially been in contact with a 12-year-old girl on Snapchat and TikTok using the name Hunter.
Ijomanta demanded photos, videos and made comments about the youngster and a 13-year-old friend.
The court heard he went on to book two child train tickets for the pair to come to Glasgow.
But the police turned up before they boarded after the pair were reported missing.
In court, Ijomanta denied the crimes, insisting he had effectively been duped about all the girls’ ages.
He stated that anything sexual with the rape victim was consensual, believing she was at least 16.
Jurors were also told he had been more bothered about police reading his “private messages” with the other two children. He described some as “mildly flirty”.
Ijomanta was unanimously convicted of abduction, assault and rape as well as sending sexual communications to a child.
The rapist will be monitored for a further four years on his release.
He will also be on the sex offenders list and banned from going near the victims – both for an indefinite period.
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