Teen in tears after alleged rape by security guard

The LGBTQ club was closed by the council on 15 November 2024 but has since been allowed to reopen

A 19-year-old was in tears when she met her friends after allegedly being raped by a Heaven nightclub security guard, a court has heard.

Morenikeji Adewole, 47, from Dartford, Kent, is denies raping the woman in the early hours of 1 November last year.

Southwark Crown Court heard the woman had been drinking vodka mixers with friends and that she had been denied entry to the nightclub because she was too intoxicated.

Prosecutor Marion Smullen told jurors for a person to consent to sexual intercourse, "they had to have capacity - a drunken consent can still be consent - however, if a complainant was so intoxicated that she was in no position to give a proper consent, that is not consent".

In court, a friend of the teenager who was also rejected entry to the nightclub described himself being "eight out of 10" on a scale of intoxication, meaning "very, very drunk".

He told jurors a security guard walked them to nearby Buckingham Street to sober up and the he sent with his friend on some steps while the guard stood by.

The teenager only stayed there for about "30 seconds" because she needed the bathroom, he told the court, adding that the security guard pointed her towards one.

She left her phone, bag and coat with him the university student said. He added he waited at the steps with the guard for about 30 minutes before she returned.

Asked if he remembered the guard leaving at any point, he said he "might have gone off for a bit" but "most of the time he was with me".

'Very distressed'

When she came back, the friends had a "jokey" conversation and the young man said he asked "did you probably sleep with someone?"

He added: "I guess the way I worded it was quite rhetorical, not really expecting much of an answer."

He told the court he did not remember her immediate reaction and that they then walked back to Heaven.

"She was very distressed from what I remember," he told jurors.

He added: "She just seemed very adamant to want to get in, she wanted to just see everybody because we had all been separated."

The pair were again rejected from entering the club, he said.

The rest of the group, who had been allowed in, came outside and the young man recalled his friend telling them she had had sexual intercourse with the security guard.

Stephan Alfred, defending Mr Adewole, put to her friend that a "realistic summary" of how she said it was that she had slept with the security guard and that "he said he would let me in".

The young man agreed, adding: "I know that she wasn't fully able to express herself properly that night, she was still quite intoxicated at that point."

He later said: "She was very distressed, she was very upset, so I knew that something had happened.

"This supposed sex, it was very uncomfortable, it seemed that it was something she did not want to do. And she had been drinking a lot."

'Really, really drunk'

The word "rape" was first used by one of the group who had been in the club, and who gave evidence on Thursday.

Asked what her friend had first told her, she told jurors: "This isn't exact, it was something along the lines of she had gone inside a car with a security guard and they had sex and he said he would let her into the club.

"And then she started to get upset. We're getting a bit worried. She starts to cry and stuff, because she was really, really drunk."

The group decided to report it to Heaven security who were "quite dismissive" and "they said we could come back in the morning to report it".

The teenager was "bawling, crying" and vomited in the Uber they took back to the witness's home, her friend told jurors.

Several of the group stayed there that night, she said.

The teenager slept until about 14:00 GMT before they "talked it all out" and decided to call the police, her friend added.

The trial continues.