Sexual abuse uncovered by tarot card reader

Aguiler-Paez is facing jail time for the accusations. Pic: Kelly Hunter

Aguiler-Paez is facing jail time for the accusations. Pic: Kelly Hunter

A Colombian waiter is facing a jail sentence for the rape of a 12-year-old girl after being identified by a tarot card reader.

John Aguiler-Paez, 37, was caught after a fortune-teller told the young girl’s aunt that her niece was being harmed.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard that the abuse stared when the girl was seven, when Aguiler-Paez showed the young girl pornography. The abuse escalated until he started raping her in his Hackney bedsit when she was 12.

The defending, Terrence Woods, told the court: “She said her aunt had been to see a card reader who had told her that something was happening between her and the defendant, and she repeatedly denied at first that this was the case. It was only after these denials that she said something had been happening.”

The Colombian man allegedly gave the 12-year-old money and gifts to keep her from telling anyone, including a phone her parents wouldn’t buy her. The court also heard that Aguiler-Paez told her he would go to prison if she told anyone, and scared her by saying people would hate her and call her a prostitute.

Prosecutor Gerard Pounder told the court: “From an early age the defendant exposed the complainant to sexual material – she initially found some pictures that were sexually explicit and he told her about it. Later he showed her pornographic films.”

Pounder added: “His sexual behaviour became bolder and bolder until he eventually had sex with her and she wasn’t really sure what was going on.”

Judge Joanna Korner convicted the 37 year-old of six counts of sexual assault, five counts of rape, and one count of assault by penetration of a child under 13. He denied all 12 allegations.

He moved to the UK from Colombia in 2002 in search of work, and was working as a waiter prior to his arrest.

Aguiler-paez is due to be sentenced next month at Snaresbrook Crown Court, after the probation service asses how much of a risk the man poses to other young girls.

He is currently being held at Huntercombe prison, and will likely be deported after being released.

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