Heaven nightclub security guard allegedly raped woman, 19, in his car near venue

A security guard at Heaven nightclub is accused of raping a 19-year-old woman in his car and taking her virginity, a court has heard.

The complainant, who cannot be identified, had been denied entry to the central London venue’s busy Halloween event on October 31, Southwark Crown Court was told on Wednesday.

CCTV allegedly showed Morenikeji Adewole, in hi-vis, later walking alone with the teenager who was stumbling and occasionally falling in the street.

Adewole, from Dartford, Kent, is on trial accused of raping her in the early hours of November 1 2024, which he denies.

In a police interview played to the court, the alleged victim told officers she was a Christian who was “saving herself until marriage” and felt “violated”.

She and her friends that night alerted Heaven security about the incident but were told to return the next evening when the club re-opened to lodge a complaint, prosecutor Marion Smullen told the court.

Police were contacted at 2.59pm on November 1 and the woman reported being raped, the court heard.

The alleged victim had queued for around two hours with five friends but only three of the group were allowed into the club, jurors heard.

She was one of the trio left on the street and was “very drunk”, the prosecutor said.

CCTV played to the jury showed Adewole approaching the group, Ms Smullen added.

The next video played to the court showed him walking with the complainant and one of her friends along Villiers Street, where Heaven is situated.

Giving evidence on Wednesday afternoon, the complainant said: “I basically asked for help, so that I could find my friend, but the security guard did say he would try to help me.

“Obviously at this point I was drunk. He led me up the queue and then after that I couldn’t really remember.

“I was really stumbling, I couldn’t walk straight.”

Another clip features the defendant and the woman standing in a tunnel behind a shutter near York Buildings.

She could be seen repeatedly stumbling and bending over while holding her hands on her knees.

Stephan Alfred, defending Adewole, put to the complainant that they kissed and cuddled consensually while in the tunnel.

The complainant said she did not remember those events happening.

CCTV showed Adewole leaving the tunnel and returning in his Lexus before the complainant got into the front seat of the car, the court heard.

The woman said she does not remember being in the front passenger seat.

He then drove the teenager to a small road called Adelphi Terrace where “there are homeless people sleeping” – which is where the alleged rape occurred, the prosecutor said.

The defence barrister said she had “climbed from the front, through to the back, in order to engage in sexual activity with him”.

The woman denied doing this.

She had earlier told jurors: “I was placed in the back of the car. I passed out.

“I woke up. I remember now being more conscious and the security guard was attempting to insert his male genitalia into my female genitalia.”

During a police interview, which was played to the court, the woman said she attempted to push the security guard away but he carried on and penetrated her vagina.

She said she felt that he was wearing a condom.

The complainant told jurors that it had been “the small amount of protest I could muster due to me being so incapacitated and so drunk that I did not have the control of my physical anatomy that I should have”.

CCTV showed her getting out of the vehicle before falling over and lying on the street.

The teenager said she does not remember leaving the vehicle or the heavy fall.

She said she next recalls walking to meet her friends.

Mr Alfred put to her that she told her friends “I f***** him” and that she “had let him have sex with you on the understanding he would let you into the club if you did”.

The teenager denied making both statements.

During police interview, the complainant described thinking at the time: “I can’t believe this is happening to me, because I’m a Christian and I was saving myself until marriage, and I’ve done all this hard work to resist”.

Asked how she felt walking back to the club, she appeared to wipe back tears and said: “I felt disgusting, felt violated, I felt so f***** off. I was so, so upset, I was bawling my eyes out.”

The complainant said she had been at Heaven “two or three weeks earlier” and Mr Alfred asked if she recalled having “a bit of flirty banter” with Adewole, who was working as a security guard that night.

The woman said “that’s not true” and denied ever having seen him before.

Officers traced Adewole through his car and he was arrested at Heaven nightclub on November 11 2024, the prosecutor said.

The Lexus keys were in his possession and he answered no comment to almost all questions when he was interviewed by police, she added.

The trial continues.

Heaven has been approached for comment.