This is the visage of Ismail Adewumi, a Sparkbrook paedophile teacher, who was classified as a ‘victim’ because of his illicit secret. Ismail Adewumi sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy while his family was seeking a spouse for him.
The 26-year-old resident, Ismail Adewumi, of Holte Road, Sparkbrook, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of sexual communication with a child.
The victim was not a student at Redstone Academy in Balsall Heath, where Ismail Adewumi was employed in an administrative capacity.
The school promptly suspended him and notified the authorities upon discovering a disturbing video he had sent to the boy while in the lavatory.
During Ismail Adewumi’s sentencing earlier this month, Birmingham Crown Court was informed that he was a ‘victim of circumstances’ due to the challenges of being homosexual in his community.
Lynette McLement, defending, revealed he would not even speak to a male barrister about the case. She said, “Things could be seen to reach a crisis point in 2020. It was then that the need to marry him off became pressing, and it was clear and apparent that his mother, with other family members, made the decision to find him a wife.
“This, of course, was in effect pressure brought to bear on a young man unable to talk about the reason for not wishing to do so. He had not had the ability to talk to anybody about any sexual feelings. It was something he said ‘nobody did’.
“He had never had a girlfriend – he wasn’t allowed. No discussion about sexual leanings. The first person he spoke to who took a light-hearted attitude and joked about sex was this young man.”
Ms McLement argued Ismail Adewumi was attracted to the boy because he was male, not because of his age, adding that sexuality was a ‘taboo topic’ in the defendant’s community. She said: “Rather than a predator, this man was a victim of circumstances, as so many others are who come to the court, where their own sexual identity is denied them. This is very much that situation.”
Messages between Ismail Adewumi and the boy escalated from ‘banter’ about the PlayStation to ‘troubling’ exchanges, which included a reference to phone sex. At one point, he told the victim he would ‘strip you in the street and tie you to a lamppost’.
Ismail Adewumi referred to the boy as ‘darling’ and ‘babes’, and sent inappropriate videos of himself. The grooming behaviour culminated on a night they were together when he repeatedly groped the boy during a two-hour ordeal. The victim subsequently reported the attack to someone else, who informed the school.
Sadaat Rasool, headteacher at Redstone Academy, told Birmingham Live: “Suspicious behaviour was brought to our attention, so we immediately followed safeguarding guidelines, suspended the employee and made appropriate contact with relevant agencies, including the police and the DBS. Safeguarding in the school is of utmost importance, and we ensure all staff are trained and up-to-date with how to identify and raise concerns.”
Judge Roderick Henderson, sentencing Ismail Adewumi, said: “I don’t at all underestimate the difficulty you found in your community, but the core of this case and what makes it so serious is that he was so much younger than you. You were a full adult. You knew this nine-years-younger-than-you boy was in a completely different category, and you did, no doubt in the confused state you were in, exploit him and cause real damage.”
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