JLS star Oritse Williams found not guilty of hotel rape
JLS star Oritse Williams has been cleared of raping a woman in his hotel room following a solo concert, with his tour manager also being cleared.
Jurors at Wolverhampton Crown Court deliberated for around two hours before unanimously acquitting Williams, who told the jury he had consensual sex with the woman in the city in December 2016.
A jury of eight women and four men also cleared Williams’ tour manager, 32-year-old Jamien Nagadhana, of two sexual assault charges relating to the same woman.
The prosecution had alleged Williams, also 32, tried to have sex with the woman, who cannot be named, and then raped her when she returned to his hotel room to look for her belongings.
The singer, from Croydon, south London, told his nine-day hearing that he had a consensual encounter with the complainant, which ended in embarrassment when he was “unable to perform” sexually.
The former boy band member’s defence lawyer suggested the woman’s complaint to police was influenced by the “extreme reaction” of her friend to being told of the consensual encounter.
Nagadhana, from Hounslow, west London, told the court he touched the woman in a bid to start a three-some, reasonably believing she was consenting.