Millionaire who said he 'tripped,' fell on teen cleared of rape charge

Emma Henderson | The Independent

LONDON — A millionaire property developer has been cleared of raping a teenager after claiming he accidentally tripped and fell on her.

Ehsan Abdulaziz, 46, was accused of forcing himself on an 18-year-old girl who slept on his sofa in his Maida Vale flat after a night out drinking.

The businessman had already had sex with the teenager’s 24-year-old friend, whom he knew, in the bedroom and said his penis might have been poking out of his underwear when he fell on the teen.

The young woman said she had woken up in the early hours of the morning, with Abdulaziz on top of her, forcing himself inside her.

He claimed he had gone to see if the young woman wanted a T-shirt to sleep in or a taxi home. But he said she pulled him on top of her and placed his hand between her legs.

His semen and DNA was found inside the young woman, but he said it was possible he had semen on his hands from having sex with the 24-year-old earlier.

In the evidence, Abdulaziz showed how the girl had put her hand behind his head to pull him towards her, which is how he says he fell.

He said: “I’m fragile, I fell down but nothing ever happened, between me and this girl nothing ever happened.”

The women met the millionaire in London’s West End club, Cirque le Soir nightclub, where he invited them to his private table.

The jury acquitted him in just 30 minutes of deliberations.

Mail Online also reported that Judge Martin Griffiths had allowed Abdulaziz to give evidence in private.

This story originally appeared in The Independent. The content was created separately from USA TODAY.

MORE FROM THE INDEPENDENT: