Sick Barthimaus Ehiemere, 25, posed as a trombonist with a camel business in Dubai in order to snare and rape children as young as 12 while offering ‘cash for nudes’ on social media
Chilling Snapchat posts from a sick paeodphile trying to hunt down young boys to rape have been shared as he is jailed for 18 years. Barthimaus Ehiemere, 25, operated a social media channel where he groomed seven boys for explicit videos and offered small amounts of money for sex.
The predator from East London masqueraded as a trombonist with a camel business in Dubai to sexually exploit children as young as 12. He raped two of them after they were enticed to meet him, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
Posts on Snapchat offered “cash for nudes” for “boys only,” with one picture of a location with the caption: “Always meeting new boys – where ever you are…pop up and take my money.”
Ehiemere of Chart Street, Hackney, admitted 32 offences prior to the trial, including child rape under 13 and breaching the terms of his sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) that was handed down for indecent images offences in 2021, reports MyLondon.
In August, Ehiemere was convicted of an additional 15 offences, including further sexual assaults and paying for the sexual services of minors. Earlier this year, Ehiemere’s younger brother Richard was found guilty on three counts of possessing indecent images and two counts of fraud – the fraudulent activities related to personal data he was peddling to CVLT, an online neo-Nazi group that blackmails youngsters by grooming them to record sexual acts, and in the most extreme cases, to commit suicide on camera.
During his trial, Richard Ehiemere insisted that the illicit material found on a Samsung phone he was arrested with in April 2021 had been there prior to him receiving it from his older brother.
His sibling, Barthimaus, had previously been caught with hundreds of indecent images of young boys in September 2020, leading to a suspended sentence and SHPO from Wood Green Crown Court in 2021. Despite his claims, Richard was still convicted.
When Barthimaus stood before the jury in July, the court was told that he was 19 when he began contacting boys via the ‘Spotafriend’ social media app. Here, he would distribute pornography and indecent images to them, asking them to mimic sexual acts.
Ehiemere argued that the boys hadn’t been honest about their real ages, but prosecutors successfully demonstrated that their youth was evident from their photos.
One victim recalled how Ehiemere had pretended to be a trombonist who ran a camel business in Dubai, offering him £20 for sex as it was ‘his first time’. Ehiemere was found guilty of sexually assaulting the boy after enticing him into a Surrey woodland and violating him over a tree branch.
The boy testified that it “looked like he had a ring of people he was doing these things with and having sex with”.
Prosecutor, James Brown KC said: “What lays behind was a deep seated interest and commercial interest in the sexual abuse of young teenage boys.”
In total, 1,600 indecent images were found on his phone, half in Category A (the worst category depicting penetrative abuse).
Revealing Ehiemere’s other activity, Mr Brown said: “He was very much in the business of encouraging young teenage boys to send him images of themselves performing sexual acts.”
Police also found evidence of Ehiemere searching for ‘young boy rape’, and using a special browser to breach his sexual harm prevention order.
Mr Brown also said there was evidence of Ehiemere communicating with another unknown paedophile, in which he referred to raping a 12-year-old as the ‘best sex ever’.
Defending counsel Barry Kogan said the first set of offending had already cost Ehiemere his place at university studying aerospace engineering, and that he had outlined his remorse in a letter to the judge.
Calling for the shortest sentence possible, Mr Kogan said: “He’s still a young man, and there’s still a chance he can do something useful with his life.”
Mr Kogan also described Ehiemere’s difficulties growing up in a strict Christian household, with a mum who allegedly believed homosexuality is “deplorable”.
After an unsuccessful secret relationship with another 14-year-old boy, and feeling unable to speak about his sexuality with anyone else, Ehiemere claimed he was groomed online by an older man who drew him into the business of sharing indecent images, said Mr Kogan.
Mr Kogan added: “He is not someone who is innately evil, and despite everything has some sides to his positive character.”
But sentencing Ehiemere to 22 years, which includes 18 in custody and four on extended license, Judge Timothy Greene said: “You are a serious danger to young boys with whom you come into contact.
“You committed three serious rapes against two 12-year-old boys. [In relation to the second victim] you completely ignored the fact you were subject to a sexual harm prevention order. You show very little insight into why this is so serious.
“This was a campaign over several years of predator sexual offending of boys between 12 and 16. I doubt you cared about any of their ages. You cared about your sexual gratification and if you could make financial gains out of sexually exploiting them.”
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