Zanzibar Commission begins investigation into attempted rape of Nigerian tourist
Tanzania's Zanzibar Commission for Tourism has launched an investigation into charges of robbery and attempted rape made by Zainab Oladehinde, a Nigerian tourist.
This came following an outcry from Nigerians over the incident, which trended on Twitter and had an impact on the Warere Beach Hotel in Nungwi, Zanzibar, where the incident occurred.
On Saturday, Oladehinde stated she boarded a plane from Lagos to Tanzania and checked into a hotel to celebrate her 23rd birthday in a series of tweets.
The victim claimed she was supposed to stay at the hotel for six days, but due to a "traumatic experience" while there, she had to go to treatment for a year.
"She stated,“Around 12am, a few friends and family called to wish me a happy birthday and then I went back to my room to sleep. A few hours into my sleep, I started to feel a strange hand touching my breasts.
“Now, this was me sleeping naked on my bed in my hotel room with my doors locked. So, this was definitely a dream. I told myself and went back to sleep. A few minutes afterwards, I started to feel my hands stroking someone’s pen*s.
“At this moment, I opened my eyes to confirm if it was actually a dream or I was in real danger. Lo and behold, it wasn’t a dream. There was a naked man lying on my bed and touching me at 2am in my hotel room!
According to her, the yet-to-be-identified man was about to rape her when she shouted that she had HIV, which made him stop.
“So, I continued begging and telling him I’d allow him to have sex with me but he’d need to get a condom so as not to get HIV. I kept on saying HIV whilst crying profusely at this point. 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, I switched on the light, tried to call the hotel reception but there were no intercom or phone lines to reach the hotel reception. I couldn’t stay back in the room and wait for the rapist to come back.
“I decided it was very unsafe for me to remain in the room. If I’d die, I’d rather die trying to escape rather than let the man come back to attack me a second time. I quickly put some clothes on and left my room barefooted so as not to make noise when I get out.
Zainab noted that after she had sought refuge with a Russian couple in their hotel room, she left for the police station early in the hours of the following day but met hostile police who were not willing to believe her or investigate.
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