A 23-year-old Nigerian woman has narrated the harrowing experience she went through on a birthday vacation at an exclusive beach hotel in Zanzibar.
Zainab Oladehinde claims she also lost $1,100 (KSh127,000) in the incident that allegedly happened at Warere Beach Hotel in Nungwi, Zanzibar, on April, 16, 2021.
“I haven’t been able to talk about it cause I’ve been in therapy for a year to heal from the psychological trauma as this experience,” she says on social media.
Zainab had flown a day earlier from Lagos to Zanibar via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Her intended stay was six nights. “On getting to the hotel, I was welcomed by the staff and they showed me my room which had a pool and sea view. Now, this looked like heaven to me and I can remember being so excited as this was going to be my dream birthday holiday.”
She had a quiet, uneventful evening, wearing off the jet lag. The following morning, she made an acquaintance with a Russian couple, also guests at the hotel. They would help her later in an unforeseen manner. “By evening time, I was already in full birthday mode as it was just a few hours to my birthday,” she says.
“At around 12am, a few friends and family called to wish me a happy birthday and then I went back to my room to sleep.”
It was then, Zainab alleges, that strange things began happening. They would mark the abrupt end of her holiday, a trip to the hospital and a verbal slugfest with Zanzibar police, all caught on video.
“Few hours into my sleep, I started to feel a strange hand touching my breast,” she narrates. “Now, this was me sleeping naked on my bed in my hotel room with my doors locked so this was definitely (she told herself) a dream”.
Hands stroking penis
She says she tried to sleep but “some few minutes afterwards, I started to feel my hands stroking someone’s penis. At this moment, I opened my eyes to confirm if it was actually a dream or I was in real danger.”
But a dream it wasn’t. “There was a naked man lying on my bed and touching me at 2am in my hotel room ! He started calling me ‘baby’ and then I became scared cause the room was dark as I had switched off the lights before I went to bed. Now, I was extremely scared.
“I asked the man ‘who are you?’ But all he kept saying was ‘baby, baby’. I asked in a louder tone this time around cause I was getting angry and then he quickly stuffed his hands over my mouth in an attempt to stop me from shouting.
“In this moment, I became very scared as I didn’t know who this was and why this person was in my room. A lot of things were going through my head at the same time. Who is this? Does he have a weapon? Will I get raped and killed on my birthday in a strange land?”
Should I run?
“How did this man get into my room? Should I struggle for my life? Will he rape me and throw me into the ocean directly opposite my room? Should I let him rape me so he may spare my life? Should I run? Will he chase me?
“While all these was going through my head, this man tried to climb on top of me in an attempt to force his penis inside of me. At this point, I became scared cause he was stinking so badly and that was the only thing I could smell. I couldn’t see his face so I started touching his body so I’d get some clarity on how to identify him if I ever get out of my room alive.”
Amid tears, Zainab says she begged the man not to rape her, and “lied to him that I have HIV and he’d need to get a condom before sleeping with me.”
“Immediately he heard HIV, he paused for a while. I quickly wanted to use the opportunity to run but then he started strangling my neck. … I continued begging him and telling him I’d allow him have sex with me but he’d need to go get a condom so as not to get HIV. I saw that he reacted to the word ‘HIV’ so I kept on saying HIV whilst crying profusely at this point.”
Press my neck against the bed
“His belt fell off the bed so I got an instant feeling that this man came to my room fully clothed before removing his clothes right on my bed. He wore his shoes and came back to press my neck against the bed. As I struggled to not let him strangle me, he left the room and told me he’d be back with a condom.”
Immediately he left, Zainab switched on the light and tried to call hotel reception. “But to my surprise, there was no intercom or phone lines to reach the hotel reception through the room.”
She also says she tried to call the police but no one was responding to the calls. Fearing that the would-be rapist was going to come back, Zainab claims to have sought refuge at the room of her Russian friends till day break.
Money Lost
It was when she returned to her room in day time that she learnt her $1,100 was missing. She claims the hotel management was unresponsive, prompting her to make a report at Nungwi Police Station within the island.
“I was asked to write my statement which I did. The police men asked me to narrate the incident to them and they advised I go to the hospital to go do a check up if I was raped or not,” she says.
But language was a barrier. “They were all speaking Swahili and were asking me questions instead of interrogating the suspects. When I decided to take a picture of the police station and the statement I had written, the police men started shouting at me and threatening me to delete the pictures I have. I stood my ground and said I wouldn’t delete any picture. The police chief at the Nungwi police station then said he wouldn’t let them take me to the hospital for checkup if I don’t delete my pictures and videos.”
Hospital Check-up
“I didn’t delete my pictures and videos. Instead, I took more because this was the only weapon I had against them. I started to google Nigerian embassies in Tanzania. I called all of them but no one answered me They finally let me go to the hospital for a checkup.
“When we got to the hospital, the nurse confirmed that there was no penetration. I got back to the police station and the police men said they have no issue for the sexual assault since I wasn’t raped. That the only issue here was my stolen money.
“The police men at the Nungwi police station in Zanzibar kept on bullying and harassing me. Told me to leave their police station that I wasn’t raped and they had confirmed there was no penetration from the nurses.
“This day was my BIRTHDAY. My friends and family back in Lagos didn’t know all that was happening to me in Zanzibar. I was so frustrated, sad and scared. How could the police do this to me? How could the hotel do this to me?”
Comments Turned off
Zainab claims the hotel has closed off their comments section on Instagram but she “won’t stop till everyone boycotts this crazy hotel. The owner and manager said I lied about my experience.”
She also shared images of the man she claims attacked her.
Warere Beach Hotel is yet to comment on the allegations.
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