On a night out in the West End, a student was sexually assaulted twice in a popular park, the second time by a bystander who said, “Can I have a go next?” A judge heard it.
After being denied admittance to Charing Cross superclub Heaven, the 18-year-old victim was separated from her pals and found herself in Victoria Embankment Gardens with an unknown man.
Wesley Roden, 33, of Warrington was apprehended the following day but is still sought by police. Yesterday, he entered a not guilty plea to one count of raping the young lady in the early hours of August 16, 2019, according to court documents.
A “good Samaritan” ultimately helped the student after she climbed back over the gates to the little park, Southwark Crown Court heard yesterday.
In his testimony to the jury, police inspector Tariq McKinsey stated, “We were waved down by a guy and female, who was weeping and really concerned and claimed she had been raped.
She claimed to have little memories other than being raped in a park and being forced to have sex against her will when another man with a beard arrived and said, “Can I have a go next?”
She said that the second man pushed himself on the female despite her repeated refusals to both of them.
As the group traveled from the suburbs of north London to the West End, one of the young woman’s friends said in court that the group had “pre cocktails” of vodka, cider, and beer.
She said, “We drink as much as we can so we don’t have to spend money,” but the third companion was so inebriated. The guards at Heaven barred access.
In an effort to sober up, they headed to a nearby McDonald’s, where they lost contact with the complaint’s source and frantically searched for her for two tense hours.
She had entered Heaven on her own, however, and was seen on surveillance footage leaving the club at 2.40 a.m. with the unidentified male suspect, who was wearing a light-colored top and for whom a police appeal has been issued.
The gentleman is seen on surveillance footage helping the student jump past the closed park gates before walking away alone and being followed by the female eight minutes later.
According to her acquaintance, the complaint and her mother arrived at their house the next day.
She said that the only thing she could remember was strolling through a pitch-black street by Heaven toward the park. I didn’t see the man’s face, the woman said. In my face, there was a dazzling light.
She said that a homeless man had asked, “Can I have a go next?” “Yeah, you can do what you want after I’m done,” the other guy said.
She is such a sane person. She had never vanished before,’ her buddy wept.
Police bodycam video of the then-bearded Roden’s arrest in the Charing Cross tube, where he was rough sleeping, was shown to the jury.
When police indicated they were looking into a “event,” the man supplied the identity “Mark Moriarty” while hiding out in London since he was sought for recall to jail.
I haven’t been a part of any incidents. I’m so puzzled,’ he protested. “I don’t participate in anything.” Will my mother be devastated if she gets a call?
He continued: “I’m going out of the park and there’s a man and female on the floor having sex, completely nude and they just kept shagging.” A short while afterwards.
“Get yourself engaged, get your trousers down,” the guy yelled, and the female yelled back while tugging at my pants.
We both had sex with this female, and I didn’t even know him, so it’s the craziest thing ever. Does this have any bearing on that?
I’m not a rapist, Roden said after he was detained.
The trial goes on.
»“May I have a go?” bystander raped teenager twice on London night out«