Nigerian Student Is Cleared Of Rape In The UK

A Nigerian student was falsely accused of rape by
a 21-year-old shop assistant who claimed she
drunkenly thought she was having sex with his white
friend, a court heard yesterday.

Sam Obeghe, 24, was having sex with the woman at
his flat at the end of a drunken night out in Bolton,
Greater Manchester, only to stop when she
unexpectedly cried the name of his 22-year-old
friend Zack Garrigan.

As he did so, the woman, who had earlier been
having sex with Mr Garrigan at the flat in nearby
Heaton, ran her fingers through Mr Obeghe’s hair
and realised she was with the wrong man.

She stormed out in hysterics, her mother alerted
police and within three hours of the encounter,
University of Salford economics student Mr Obeghe
was arrested in his pyjamas.
He was ordered to face court and endured a 17-
month wait until a trial, but was unanimously
acquitted of rape by a jury at Bolton Crown Court
after just 27 minutes of deliberation.
During the trial the woman said the bedroom was
‘pitch black’ and she couldn’t see anything, despite
Nigerian-born Mr Obeghe being of a different
ethnicity and having various different features to
white Mr Garrigan.

The incident occurred on December 5, 2014 when
the woman had got drunk while out with a friend.

The two women met Mr Obeghe and Mr Garrigan in
the Vogue bar in Bolton and in the early hours of
the morning the four of them plus another man went
to the student’s flat.

Mr Obeghe, who had not been drinking, gave the
party a lift in his BMW but once they got back the
woman and Mr Garrigan began kissing and headed
into the defendant’s bedroom for sex.

The woman said she and Mr Garrigan did not have
intercourse and she fell asleep whilst he went into
the lounge to try to find some Viagra.

But she told the court she was subsequently woken
by a man she thought was Mr Garrigan in the bed
and they began having sex.
She said: ‘I was saying Zack’s name because I
thought it was him I was having sex with. The
person hugging and kissing me didn’t feel any
different. I thought this was Zack.
'I called his name four or five times. It went on for a
couple of minutes until I put my hands through his
hair and realised it was not Zack but was Sam. I
was screaming “what are you doing”?
‘He ran out of the room. I was embarrassed and
ran out. Zack was asking what was wrong, I was
just saying that I needed to get out.’
Mr Obeghe, who at the time worked for a fashion
brand, said he had met the woman while helping Mr
Garrigan celebrate his birthday and he and agreed
to let the group go back to his flat at 5am.

‘I could tell she was drunk - her and Zack were the
same,’ he said. ‘Music was playing and they were
kissing and then went into my bedroom.

‘I sat there thinking “what have I done” bringing
them back here because I had work the next day.

'I saw Zack coming out, first Unclad and I was
saying “come on, I need to go to bed”.

‘I asked him “are you guys leaving?” but he was not
really paying attention to what I was saying and I
said “I’m going to go and get her out”.

‘I walked into the bedroom sat on the bed and
started nudging the woman saying ‘go and meet
Zack in the living room’. At first I lay there thinking
“finally I can go to bed” but she grabbed me.

‘I was just thinking “I didn’t really want to have sex
with her” but I’m a human being and if you get
touched like that you have a motivation to move on.

‘I figured she was probably very drunk but she
grabbed me saying “come on Zack” then I realised
she’s thinking I’m Zack so I jumped off the bed and
jumped out of the room.

‘I went into the living room and told Zack: “Man
you will not believe what she’s just done”. Zack
was sort of laughing and then I saw her storming
out and she was screaming. I was in shock. I didn’t
climb on top of her and kiss her.’
After the not guilty verdict Mr Obeghe, now 26, was
too upset to comment, but his lawyer Sarah
Johnson said: ‘We are not suggesting this is a
wicked woman telling a wicked pack of lies.

‘But she couldn’t remember everything that
happened in that bedroom. She’s not someone you
can say is accurate and reliable.
‘She said the room was pitch black and she
couldn’t see anything, despite the defendant being
of a different ethnicity, having different features and
a different voice.

‘It was only when putting her hand through his hair
she put her head back and it’s that movement of
her head that allows her to see that it’s Sam and
not Zack.’

Source:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3586478/
Shop-assistant-falsely-accused-Nigerian-student-
rape-claiming-drunkenly-thought-having-sex-white-
friend.html