Michael Waribo who raped girls at houses in Thurso jailed at High Court in Edinburgh

A manipulative sex predator who subjected two girls to a catalogue of rape and violence which began at a house in Thurso was jailed for 11 years on Monday.

Michael Waribo (49) told one victim that he had a disease and if she did not help him he would die as he exploited the innocence of those he targeted.

A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh told him: "You have been found guilty of appalling sexual offences."

Lord Harrower said: "I cannot begin to express in words the damage you have done to them."

But the judge said he could acknowledge the courage victims had shown in coming forward to give evidence against their abuser.

Lord Harrower told Waribo that he had to take into account the age of the girls at the time and the psychological damage inflicted and added: "A significant custodial sentence is inevitable."

Waribo, formerly of Leith Walk, Dundee, had earlier denied a string of charges during a trial but was convicted of four rape offences, a crime of indecent conduct to a child and two charges of assault to the danger of victims' lives.

The court heard that Waribo, who arrived in the UK from Nigeria via Sweden, continued to maintain that he was innocent.

He molested his first victim at a house in Thurso when she was aged 10 and touched her while she was in a bath.

Waribo went on to threaten the child victim and repeatedly raped her at addresses in the Caithness town.

He also throttled the victim when she was a teenager, seizing glasses from her face and compressing her neck to restrict her breathing.

Waribo sexually assaulted and raped a second girl from the age of 13 at houses in Thurso and in Dundee. During the abuse he carried out sex acts on her and also strangled her.

His offending began in May 2008 and continued until May 2019. He told one victim that if she told the police she would go to jail, but she did go to the authorities.

Prosecutor Chris Fyfe told Waribo's trial: "Violence, fear and manipulation – those are the conditions that allowed him to groom his victims."

The advocate depute said he had conditioned and groomed victims as he laid a foundation for the abuse he carried out on them.

Lord Harrower told Waribo, who followed the sentencing proceedings via a video link to jail, that he would be on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.