A waiter is facing years behind bars for raping a girl after he was caught out by a tarot card reading.

One of the victim’s relatives went to see a fortune teller who said that John Aguiler-Paez, 37, was harming the child.

The Columbian ex-pat was later arrested and charged.

The girl was just 12 when Aguiler-Paez began raping her in his Hackney bedsit, Snaresbrook Crown Court was told.

He began touching her when she was just seven, showing her pornography, and gave her money and presents so she would keep quiet.

Gerard Pounder, prosecuting, said: “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 – his sexual behaviour became bolder and bolder until he eventually had sex with her and she wasn’t really sure what was going on.”

Aguiler-Paez, of HMP Huntercombe, told the youngster he would go to prison if she told anyone, that everyone would hate her and people would call her a prostitute.

Following a trial, he was convicted of six counts of sexual assault, five counts of rape and one count of assault by penetration of a child under 13. He denied the allegations.

Aguiler-Paez who came to work in the UK in 2002, was convicted of smuggling cocaine into the UK from South America in December 2013 and jailed for six years.

Sentencing was adjourned until March 26 so the risk Aguiler-Paez poses to other young girls could be assessed by the probation service.

He is likely to be deported on his release from prison.