Nigerian student Sam Obeghe,24 is cleared by UK court of raping drunk shop assistant.

Nigerian Student Sam Obeghe, 24, was falsely accused of rape by a 21-year-old shop assistant who claimed she drunkenly thought she was having sex with his white friend, a court heard yesterday. The incident occurred on December 5, 2014 when the woman had got drunk while out with a friend.

The two women met Obeghe and Zack Garrigan, 22, in the Vogue bar in Bolton, Greater Manchester, and in the early hours of the morning they all went to the Obeghe’s flat. Once they got there, the woman and Garrigan began kissing and headed into his bedroom for sex.

The woman later said she and Garrigan did not have sex and she fell asleep whilst he went into the lounge to try to find some Viagra. But she told the court she was subsequently woken by a man she thought was Zack and they began having sex.


She later ran her fingers through Obeghe’s hair and realised she was with the wrong man. She stormed out in hysterics, her mother alerted the police and Obeghe was arrested in his pyjamas. Obeghe, a University of Salford economics student, who said he only went into his bedroom to tell the woman to leave after Zack had exited the room, added that:

“I walked into the bedroom sat on the bed and started nudging the woman saying ‘go and meet Zack in the living room’. At first I lay there thinking “finally I can go to bed” but she grabbed me. I was just thinking “I didn’t really want to have sex with her” but I’m a human being and if you get touched like that you have a motivation to move on.

She grabbed me saying “come on Zack.” Then I realised she’s thinking I’m Zack so I jumped off the bed and jumped out of the room. I went into the living room and told Zack: “Man you will not believe what she’s just done”. Zack was sort of laughing and then I saw her storming out and she was screaming. I was in shock. I didn’t climb on top of her and kiss her.”