Investment banker is cleared of raping Bumble date at his £1m apartment after two juries fail to reach a verdict
- Giving evidence he told jurors of the ‘good chemistry’ and said she consented
An investment banker has been cleared of raping a woman he met on the dating website Bumble after two juries failed to reach a verdict.
Varun Venaik, 31, was said to have assaulted his date after taking her back to his £1million apartment in Upper Montagu Street, Marylebone, on July 31, 2021.
Australian Venaik was accused of raping the woman after she told him: ‘I don’t have sex with people on a first date.’
But giving evidence he told jurors of the ‘really good chemistry’ and insisted she consented to sex.
Following his first trial last October at Southwark Crown Court a jury failed to reach a verdict after deliberating for 11 hours and 19 minutes.
Varun Venaik, 31, denies raping the woman at his basement flat in Upper Montagu Street, Marylebone
Venaik (pictured) is accused of forcing himself on the woman after she told him she doesn’t have sex with people on the first date
The second jury also failed to reach a verdict on the charge of rape, which Venaik denied, and Judge Gregory Perrins discharged them after just over six hours of deliberations.
Judge Perrins told them: ‘You mustn’t think you have failed. In fact it shows that the system is working.
‘These are extremely difficult cases for juries to wrestle with.
‘I can tell you now that this case is a retrial. That jury was also unable to agree on a verdict.’
When prosecutor James Dick discussed the possibility of a third trial, Judge Perrins said: ‘There are very few cases in which it is appropriate for there to be a third retrial.’
The prosecution offered no evidence against Venaik today and he was formally cleared of rape.
The woman had told the court how they went for drinks at the Kitchen At Holmes bar before heading to Venaik’s flat nearby.
She agreed there was ‘chemistry’ between them as they kissed and cuddled on a beanbag chair before Venaik said he had to go to meet a friend.
Venaik had explained that he was actually going on another date but did not want to hurt her feelings.
But he caught up with the woman at Baker Street station and they returned to his apartment with a bottle of gin and ordered a pizza delivery.
The woman said he pushed her head down in his bedroom.
‘Him pushing my head down that night was forceful,’ she said.
‘I remember saying that I don’t have sex on a first date.
‘I remember making it clear before that I did not want to have sex.’
Describing the alleged attack she said: ‘I was pushing his bodyweight off me.’
Asked if she had touched him intimately she said: ‘I am sure I did not touch his penis.
‘I remember feeling very anxious and scared. I didn’t want to visibly show that I was scared and anxious.’
She later messaged her friends to tell them what had happened.
‘I told them that something had happened and that I feel really uncomfortable.’
She told a friend in a text: ‘I didn’t think rape looked like that.’ She added: ‘What if I am just being dramatic?’
Giving evidence Venaik had told the court that they had ‘mutual chemistry’ and accepted she mentioned she ‘did not have sex on a first date’.
Venaik described how things became intimate in his bedroom as he guided the woman’s hand to his private parts, getting her to pleasure him as they then had sex.
He said there was never any doubt she was happy about what was happening and she seemed to ‘really enjoy’ what he was doing as they had sex.
The woman had messaged him the next day saying: ‘We ended up having sex when I didn’t want to.’
But Venaik said he did not think at this point that she was accusing him of rape.
The alleged rape took place at Venaik’s £1million home, Southwark Crown Court, pictured, has heard
‘I remembered the events clearly. I knew what had happened. I thought she was upset. I thought she was upset about me being forward but that’s it.
‘None of those messages sent alarm bells ringing. Not at all.’
The woman texted him again and said: ‘I tried to make it clear that no meant no… in future please respect when someone says no.’
Venaik messaged her back saying: ‘I do push the boundaries.’
He said: ‘I was trying to side with her as much as possible.
‘I was trying to empathise with her, trying to accept her version so that we could move on.
‘My only thoughts were for her. We had an amazing time together.
‘We gelled, we had amazing chemistry. I found out so much about her.’
Orla Daly, defending, had said in her closing speech to the jury during the first trial: ‘It is possible to say, “I don’t have sex on a first date and then change your mind.”
‘This is one person’s word against another.’
Ms Daly said the woman told one of her friends: ‘I don’t want to do the whole going to court and him getting arrested thing… I don’t want to get him into trouble’.
‘Was she reluctant to get him into trouble because she’s unbelievably kind, or because she had her own doubts?’
Venaik denied the charges and was cleared of rape.
Source: Read Full Article
