Ehsan Abdulaziz - "tripped and accidentally penetrates " a girl

In short
In December 2015 millionaire Ehsan Abdulaziz, a 46-year-old Saudi property developer living in London, was acquitted of raping an 18-year-old woman in his Maida Vale flat in August 2014. He had argued that he tripped and fell on her, and might have penetrated her by accident. The jury at Southwark Crown Court acquitted him after about 30 minutes, and the verdict sparked controversy worldwide.

Ehsan Abdulaziz is a 46-year-old businessman living in London. The events date back to 2014, but became famous in December 2015 because of the outcome of the rape trial in which he was the defendant.

The facts

Ehsan Abdulaziz, a millionaire property developer of Saudi origin, was at Cirque le Soir, a club in London’s West End, on the night of August 7, 2014, where he invited two young women, aged 24 and 18, to his private table.

He already knew the older one, and at the end of the night the three decided to carry on at his place, a luxury flat in Maida Vale. It was during that night that something happened, and the 18-year-old reported the businessman for rape.

The 18-year-old, who had been drinking, fell asleep on the sofa, while the 24-year-old and Ehsan went into the bedroom and had sex. According to her account, early in the morning she woke up with the man on top of her, kissing her and forcing himself inside her.

At first he denied everything and said she would have to prove it. But doctors found his semen on her body, and he changed his story.

“I fell, I did not rape her”

The version Abdulaziz gave in court was this: yes, the three went to his place and he had sex with the older woman.

After that, with his penis still sticking out of his boxers and possibly with semen on his hands, he allegedly went into the living room, where the younger woman was asleep on the sofa, to offer her a T-shirt for the night.

According to him, she pulled him towards her, putting his hand on her private parts and making him fall on top of her. At that moment, Ehsan admitted, his penis might have penetrated her by accident. The defense also argued that she had made it all up because she felt humiliated that he did not want to have sex with her.

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

The verdict

The trial took place at Southwark Crown Court in London. Judge Martin Griffiths allowed Abdulaziz to give about 20 minutes of evidence in private. Then, on December 15, 2015, the jury retired and, after just 30 minutes of deliberation, found him not guilty.

The news went around the world and the “I tripped” defense became a case in itself: within days an online petition calling for an investigation into the judge passed 10,000 signatures. It must be said, though, that the decision was the jury’s, which in a rape trial must be certain beyond reasonable doubt, and in these cases it is often one person’s word against another’s. In the eyes of the law, Ehsan Abdulaziz is innocent.

The fact remains that his defense is one of the most incredible ever heard in a courtroom.

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