Worker
The son of a Nigerian government official was yesterday jailed for
life after raping and murdering a £1,800-a-night high-class escort. Bala
Chinda killed Jessica McGraa, also a Nigerian, only a few weeks after
he arrived in Scotland to study at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.
The
37-year-old £200-an-hour sex worker’s partially clothed body was found
the following day in the bedroom of a flat she had rented in the city’s
Union Terrace. Extensive police investigations carefully pieced together
the call girl’s last movements following the grim discovery on February
12, 2016.
CCTV footage showed she had
travelled to Chinda’s student accommodation in the city’s King Street
with him in a taxi before they returned to her apartment a short time
later, where she was found dead the following day.
Yesterday, a
jury of eight women and seven men unanimously found Chinda guilty of
murdering Miss McGraa, and also found him guilty of raping the mother of
one and stealing her two mobile phones in an attempt to defeat the ends
of justice.
Chinda was told he must serve a minimum of 18 years.
The Nigerian, whose father works as the immigration attaché at the
Nigerian embassy in Beijing, wept uncontrollably after he was found
guilty by the jury.
The court heard that Miss McGraa died of
asphyxiation and was probably smothered with a pillow and possibly
strangled with her scarf. The taxi driver taking Chinda and Miss McGraa
back to her apartment had heard the two discussing money.
Chinda
changed his phone number after her death. Miss McGraa moved to the UK
from Nigeria 11 years ago after meeting an English oil worker, Gareth
McGraa, who had been working in a Nigerian complex. They married and had
a son but later split. .
Her double life as an escort was only
exposed to her closest friends after her sudden death, with many
believing she travelled round the country selling hair extensions.
Instead, she travelled across the country renting city apartments for a
few days where she would spend time with her clients.