Kwame Yeboah, a 30-year-old former British Airways pilot, has been sentenced to nine years and four months in prison for raping a 12-year-old girl he met and groomed on Instagram. Yeboah, of Drake Way, Reading, initially contacted the child online late last year and travelled from Reading to Merseyside in February to meet her. He drove the girl to an isolated location where he raped her three times before dropping her back where he had picked her up.
Grooming and deception
Yeboah, who worked for British Airways for three years as a first officer based at Heathrow Airport, pleaded guilty to three counts of rape at Liverpool Crown Court on April 22. The court heard that the girl initially told Yeboah she was 17, but their conversations, which began ordinarily, soon turned sexual. Yeboah sent the girl explicit images of himself and called her about twice a week, making her feel important and cared for.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Thomas Hanlon, from CPS Mersey-Cheshire’s Rape and Serious Sexual Offences unit, stated: 'Kwame Yeboah would have known early on in his contact with this child that she was not the age she initially claimed to be. She spoke about school and sent images of herself in school uniform. When he met her in person, it would have been obvious that she was a very young child. Despite this, Yeboah deliberately took her to an isolated location where he raped her three times.'
Impact and arrest
After the assault, the child told police she struggled to process what happened and felt nervous and confused. Yeboah was caught after a friend of the girl informed her mother, who then contacted the police. Detectives identified Yeboah from details he had shared with the victim. During police interviews, he answered 'no comment'.
Mr Hanlon added: 'Yeboah groomed the victim into believing she was in a relationship with someone who cared about her. In reality, he was an adult man who abused his position and exploited her for his own sexual gratification.'
British Airways response
A British Airways spokesperson said: 'We’ve been sickened to hear of the despicable actions of this individual and we can only imagine the pain he has inflicted. All of our thoughts are and will remain with the young person and their family as they try to repair the unthinkable damage and hurt they have suffered.'
Before his conviction, Yeboah had boasted about his career on social media. An Instagram post showed him posing outside a BA jet with the caption: 'I love when they say I can't go higher, I'm a frequent flyer!' In another post from June 2023, he smiled in his pilot uniform, thanking his mother and brother for helping him achieve his dream. His LinkedIn profile also highlighted his role as a basketball referee for Basketball England.
