NARINKEVICIUS:LITHUANIAN CLEARED OF HOTEL GANG RAPE
A Lithuanian man accused of a gang rape in a hotel room breathed a sigh of relief as he was cleared today (Thurs).
Edgaras Narinkevicius, 32, was accused of ripping off the woman’s underwear and raping her with two of his pals on January 23, 2006.
She claimed the men, all from Lithuania, had behaved like ‘animals’ while they had sex at the McCreadie Hotel, in Romford, east London.
But during a trial at the Old Bailey, Jeremy Wainwright, defending, suggested the woman was working as a prostitute and had willingly engaged in sex for money on that night.
She denied taking money for sex, and said she agreed to get into a car with the Lithuanian men that night to ‘have fun’
They went to the hotel to drink, talk and smoke before the alleged attack, the court heard.
The case was closed by detectives in 2008, but was reopened last year when DNA evidence appeared to link Narinkevicius to the scene.
He was cleared by the jury of five men and seven women after nearly eight hours of deliberation at the end of four day trial.
Narinkevicius, of Albert Road, North Woolwich, denied a single count of rape.
No one else has ever been arrested in connection with the attack.
ends
