Word: This text incorporates descriptions of allegations of sexual assault.
Slowthai has been discovered not responsible in a rape trial introduced by two followers, BBC News reviews. The British rapper and his pal Alex Blake-Walker faced three joint counts of rape, alleged by two girls who advised the courtroom that the incident came about at certainly one of their houses, in Oxford, after a Slowthai live performance within the metropolis in 2021. Slowthai, whose authorized identify is Tyron Kaymone Frampton, reportedly broke down in tears as the decision was learn. Blake-Walker was additionally cleared on the three joint rape counts, in addition to a fourth rely of sexual assault.
The prosecution legal professional, Heather Stangoe, had mentioned in opening statements that Slowthai and Blake-Walker first met the ladies earlier than a 2021 present in Oxford and gave them VIP tickets. After the live performance, the ladies, a few of their buddies, and a gaggle together with the 2 defendants went again to one of many girls’s houses for a celebration. As soon as there, in accordance with Stangoe, the ladies had been “remoted from their buddies” by Slowthai and Blake-Walker.
The prosecution alleged that, on a balcony-style roof of the property, the lads made jokes whereas raping and sexually assaulting the ladies. (Slowthai and Blake-Walker denied the costs, saying all sexual exercise had been consensual.) They allegedly “high-fived, mentioned ‘tag groups,’ and contemplated swapping the ladies,” Strangoe advised the courtroom, in accordance with The Guardian. The second defendant advised the courtroom that Slowthai raped her twice with Blake-Walker’s encouragement. “I mentioned cease to him,” she advised police in a video interview every week after the occasions. “Slowthai was attempting to drag my hair so I might proceed. They had been saying: ‘No it’s secure we’ll take care of you, it’s secure with us.’ They had been saying: ‘It’s so nice, can’t consider that is taking place,’ and fist-bumping one another.”
She advised police that Slowthai pushed her in opposition to a wall after which to the ground earlier than raping her. Requested why she didn’t inform him to cease, she replied, “I felt helpless, like my physique was not my very own.” When the ladies’s buddies realized what was taking place, Strangoe added, they advised the lads to cease, at which level Frampton allegedly jumped down from the roof and ran away.
