Bouncer not guilty of nightclub rape
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A doorman was cleared today of raping a customer in the toilets of celebrity club.
Vasil Makaveev was found not guilty by a jury at Kingston Crown Court of rape in relation to the incident at the The Collection in South Kensington, London, in June.
The 28-year-old, of Northolt, Middlesex, had denied one charge of rape.
Makaveev told jurors the sexual act was consensual.
When asked by defence counsel Keir Monteith if he raped the woman, Makaveev replied: "Not at all. Everything was with her consent. Actually, she was doing everything. I was doing nothing."
He said it was the first time anything like that had happened in the six years he had been working at the club, and told the jury: "The woman was very sexual to me."
Makaveev denied prosecution claims that he had taken advantage of the woman.
Lisa Wilding, prosecuting, said the woman was drunk, with alcohol levels later shown to be three and a half times the drink-drive limit.
But Makaveev said he did not think the woman was drunk.
He added that he thought the woman, who was a stranger, was dancing provocatively before they went to the toilets together.
He said that, after they came out of the toilets, she was "very angry" and upset, and that it took four people to take her outside as she was "very powerful".