1 day ago
69
A FORMER Championship striker is facing jail after he was convicted of raping a drunk woman in her bed while she slept at an Airbnb.
Oluwasanmi Odelusi, known as Sanmi, retired from the game in 2020 due to injury after playing for clubs including Bolton Wanderers, MK Dons and Coventry City.
Linkedin
GettyThe former pro, 31, announced the retirement to his 11,000 followers on Instagram and now helps youngsters get into the sport and is a “devout Christian” and church usher.
Prosecuting, Charles Evans said the victim, then 27, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was visiting London from the USA with two female friends.
The woman had come with her pal for a week to celebrate Thanksgiving in November 2021 when she was raped, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
Mr Evans said: “They stayed in an Airbnb flat with three bedrooms in Shoreditch, east London, and on the evening of Friday November 26 decided to go clubbing.
“The complainant had a friend in London she wanted to meet so they all went to Reign nightclub in Piccadilly.”
Mr Evans said the victim and her friends were drinking quite heavily.
He said: “The complainant couldn’t remember how many shots of tequila she had but says that she did have quite a few.
“They then went to the club in Piccadilly, arriving there some time after midnight. More alcohol was consumed and the complainant was feeling drunk but not to the point of blacking out.”
Inside the club one of the victim’s friends kissed Ryan Sellers, a footballer friend of Odelusi’s and when it was time to leave the club, the two men were invited back to the Airbnb with the three women, arriving there at 4am or 5am.
The victim said her memory “let her down a little” due to the alcohol and she did “not recall much of the taxi ride home,” but she could clearly remember the subsequent rape.
Mr Sellers went into one of the girl’s rooms and Odelusi first went into the victim’s, but she explained she was not interested, and he was, instead, welcomed into her other friend’s bed, the court heard.
Odelusi had consensual sex with the friend, but after a while she asked him to stop, which he did, the court heard.
He then went into the victim’s room and raped her at about 6am, the court heard.
She awoke and realised someone was having sex with her, but she was unable to speak.
Odelusi then returned to the friend’s room, while the victim went back to sleep, the court heard.
HORROR ATTACK
Odelusi and Mr Sellers later then left the flat, the court heard.
Mr Evans said the victim awoke at 11am and felt confused.
She only told another female friend about the rape, when she met her in Stratford, later the same day, the court was told.
The friend urged her to report it to police, but she was scared she might not be able to identify her attacker, even though she knew he was black, Mr Evans said.
At about 12:50am on November 28 police received a call from friends of the complainant, to report the offence, as she was too upset.
The three women were due to leave the country later that day.
One of her friends had a video interview with police before they left, but the victim later was interviewed by Met Police officers who travelled to Beverly Hills police station.
The interview was video recorded on April 19 2022.
The CPS used a new system in the trial whereby the video of the victim’s interview was played and the witness did not have to give live evidence.
Odelusi was identified from CCTV at the club and from a photograph one of the girls had taken on the night.
DNA MATCH
Odelusi was invited to attend a voluntary on November 29, and made no comment.
His DNA was later matched to semen traces.
Mr Evans said: “A sleeping person cannot give consent. It is that simple.
“It is not the Crown’s case that the complainant was too
intoxicated to consent, but it is the Crown’s case that her intoxication certainly contributed to the circumstances whereby the defendant was able to rape the sleeping complainant.”
Odelusi, vehemently denied this, and insisted she was awake and had consented before anything happened.
Defending Claire Cooper, told the court the victim had shown interest in Odelusi in the taxi and had shown him her Instagram account and he complimented her pictures, but they “did not add each other.”
She said: “He was shocked and surprised when he was asked to attend the police station.
“He cooperated with the police. He was not been proud of himself after sleeping with both women, but his actions were not of someone who was guilty of rape.”
She said the sex had been consensual with both women and he had initially stayed at the flat after both encounters.
The jury found him guilty by a ten to two majority verdict.
Odelusi was released on conditional bail ahead of sentence in May.
Getty
Bengali (BD) · 
English (US) ·