A London Underground worker is facing jail for accusing an accountant she met at a nightclub of rape after he left her waiting for a lift home outside McDonald's for 45 minutes.Comfort Yinusa, 23, from Tilbury, Essex, became angry after the victim - who cannot be named - was late returning to give her a lift back to her hotel following a night out.
When he finally arrived to pick her up from outside the fast food restaurant in Liverpool Street, central London, she stormed off and called her boyfriend Kenneth Umezie to pick her up instead.
On the drive home, she then told her partner that she had been molested by the accountant and sexually assaulted by his friend.
She later called 999 to report the alleged incidents and the two men were arrested and held in a cell for at least 14 hours before being released on bail.
It took five further weeks of investigations - including for forensic evidence, mobile phone data and CCTV footage to be studied - for Yinusa's allegations to be proved false.
However, she refused to admit her lies until just before the trial at the Old Bailey last month.
Judge Peter Rook QC is now due to sentence the Tube worker on Friday after she admitted perverting the course of justice between October 25, 2013 and January 3 last year.
The court heard how Yinusa reported the accountant for rape on October 26, 2013 while travelling in her boyfriend's car.
She claimed she had met the Nigerian at the Dollhouse nightclub near Liverpool Street.
Heather Stangoe, prosecuting, said: 'She left with him and his friend. She had been offered a lift home.
'All three went to McDonald's and they ordered some food and CCTV showed them there laughing at the tills.'
The accountant, who was carrying Yinusa's bag, left her with his friend while he went to collect his car - only to realise he could not remember where he had parked.
Yinusa told police that she was sexually assaulted by the friend while they waited outside McDonald's and the Lord Aberconway pub.
She claimed that when the accountant returned, he took off his trousers and molested her while his friend watched.
Miss Stangoe said: 'She said she did not know whether he was using a condom.'
Officers described her as 'coherent and calm' while she was making the allegation via the 999 call.
Her boyfriend, who she has since split from, told police that she called him and asked him to pick her up in the early hours of the morning.
Miss Stangoe said: 'It seems there was a bit of an atmosphere when he arrived. CCTV shows them having a remonstration.
'He says that after about a minute of her being in the car she told him she had been molested.
'She told him she had made several attempts to contact the police but had been unsuccessful. She was with him when she made the call to 999.'
Yinusa was taken to the Haven centre – a specialist establishment for people who have been sexually assaulted - at 8.30am and surprised staff by falling asleep while waiting to be examined.
She also insisted that she did not want to be examined and instead wanted to go home.
The court also heard how when she was driven back to the scene, which had been cordoned off by police, she claimed she could not remember where exactly the attack happened.
Yinusa also failed to turn up for a police video interview and instead sent a text message to officers which said: 'I can't make it, please can I call you later, I'm sorry for wasting your time.'
She then called police on November 1, 2013 to say she did not want to go ahead with the complaint.
At a meeting three days later, Yinusa told police that the rape happened after they left McDonald's but did not know where.
Two weeks later, she backtracked again and said she did not want to go ahead with the allegation.
Yinusa was finally arrested on December 2, 2013 and confronted with the CCTV and phone evidence proving she had lied. However, she made no comment during her police interview.
The following day, the victim and his friend were told they would not be charged, having spent five weeks on bail.
Miss Stangoe said that the incident 'had affected him very severely'.
The accountant had been arrested on October 26 after Yinusa said she had swapped phone numbers with him that night.
He told police he met her clubbing and agreed to give her a lift back to Stratford.
Miss Stangoe said: 'Then he realised he couldn't remember where the car was and so he left her with his friend and went to find the car.
'He was carrying her bag. He got lost. CCTV bears out that he was wandering around in circles for some time.
'He did remain in contact with her on the phone and he says as they were on the phone she was getting angrier and angrier because of the time it was taking him to find the car.'
Miss Stangoe said it took him 45 minutes to return to Yinusa.
'When he arrived back he saw her outside the Carphone Warehouse,' she said.
'She was angry. She took the bag from him and left. He denies there was any sexual assault at all.'
Both men had to provide intimate samples, surrender their clothing and undergo a medical examination. They were kept in custody for over 14 hours before being released on bail.
Two police officers and two paramedics were called to meet Yinusa after the 999 call and CCTV from 16 locations had to be trawled through by investigators.
Miss Stangoe said that the complaint wasted more than 100 hours of police time and the forensic investigations alone cost £3,216.
Yinusa's barrister Neville Rudston described her as 'desperate' and said: 'It is popularly seen as a monstrous act. The enormity of the consequences should have been clear. The reality is they weren't.
'It was an outburst of anger, albeit she had a great deal to be angry about, it's an outburst.
'She says it and then she was stuck with it, she didn't have the robustness or strength to say 'no I take it back' and that's why it turned out as badly as it did.'
He added: 'It's an extraordinary case of a young woman of good character who found herself committing an extraordinarily serious offence, it's inexplicable in many ways.'
Mr Rudston told the court that the defendant has 'her own difficulties and her own issues' and that she 'self-medicated' by abusing cocaine.
She also suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and has a caution for shoplifting.
Judge Rook told her she would be sentenced on Friday for making the false rape claim.
He said: 'It does concern me that I don't have a medical report on you as sadly you have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
'For that reason I am going to adjourn your sentence to Friday afternoon.'
Yinusa was granted bail until sentencing.
Her ex-boyfriend Mr Umezie told the hearing she was crying when she made the initial allegation.
He added: 'She used to be immature but now she's more responsible.'
0 comments:
Post a Comment