Architect Adam Leheup 'raped blind date and told her: girls say no, but they don't mean it'

 
On trial: Adam Leheup, 34, outside Blackfriars crown court. He denies rape
Tony Palmer14 April 2015
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

An architect who arranged to meet his blind date under Waterloo Station’s clock raped her hours later, telling the young woman: “Girls say no, but they don’t mean it,” a court heard.

University of Greenwich graduate Adam Leheup, 34, a technical co-ordinator on the £500 million Nine Elms Point Development, insisted on having sex with the 25 year-old despite her shouting: “No, no,” Blackfriars Crown Court was told.

Leheup, of Hersham, south London, has pleaded not guilty to raping the woman and sexually assaulting her at her flat in Camden in the early hours of July 10, 2013.

He says they enjoyed an night-long date, which included wine and cocktails, with the young woman responding to his physical advances and allowing him to remove her bra in her bedroom so he could massage her back with oil.

Prosecutor Ish Sheikh told the court the couple met on dating app “Let’s Date” - which connects users who mutually find each other attractive - and had two bottles of wine at Gordon’s Wine Bar, Embankment, after meeting.

It was so late Leheup had missed his last train and his date agreed to put him up for the night.

“She made it clear nothing would happen and they went to a second bar, in Camden, where they had mojitos,” said Mr Sheikh.

They returned to the young woman’s flat in the early hours.

Mr Sheikh said: “She shares it with two others and when they got into the bedroom she changed into jogging bottoms and a top and got into bed, where the defendant joined her without any clothes on at all.

“He started kissing her and got on top of her and she was shouting: ‘No, no,’ and to stop, but he did not take any heed of these cries and touched her with his fingers.”

Partial intercourse occurred for a very short time and the young woman managed to get away and told Leheup: “Why did you do that when I said no?”

The woman’s flatmates came up to the room and Leheup clambered down scaffolding outside the balcony door, but was arrested on the way to the underground station.

When questioned by police, the defendant said he “climbed down the scaffolding to avoid a confrontation.”

The complainant told police Leheup told her after forcing himself on her: “Girls say no, but they don’t mean it.”

Mr Sheikh added: “When she was shouting ‘no’ he should have known she was not consenting. He was not going to take no for an answer that night.”

The trial continues.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in