A transgender man was raped within an hour of being admitted to an all-male ward of a secure psychiatric NHS hospital, a court heard.
The biological female was earmarked immediately by other patients, with one alleged attacker shouting ‘no Adam’s apple, no Adam’s apple,’ prosecutors said.
The alleged victim went into a side room to avoid the men asking, ‘Are you a girl?’ but was followed by Luther Badejo and Davointe Thomas.
Six-foot and heavily built Thomas, 25, then blocked a doorway, pushed the alleged victim into a cupboard, forced their trousers down and raped them, jurors heard.
The five-foot-tall complainant then fled to their room before heading to the television area, where they were followed once again by Thomas and Badejo, prosecutors said.
Badejo, 29, ‘kept a lookout’ while Thomas pushed them onto a sofa and raped them again, Kate Bex KC, prosecuting, told Inner London Crown Court.
Badejo is jointly charged on this count for allegedly acting as Thomas’s accomplice.
The attacks allegedly took place on the Eden Ward secure psychiatric unit of Lambeth Hospital in south London on April 12, 2022.
Luther Badejo arrives at Inner London for the start of his trial, while co-defendant Davointe Thomas was deemed too ill for trial
Thomas (pictured) blocked a doorway, pushed the alleged victim into a cupboard, forced their trousers down and raped them, jurors heard
Badejo is jointly charged on this count for allegedly acting as Thomas’s accomplice
The ward is for men with severe mental health problems, some of whom have been brought in by police having been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
‘The fact that (the complainant) is biologically female with female anatomy, if it was appropriate to transfer him to a male ward at all, the hospital ought to have provided one-to-one monitoring, but this did not happen as a result of staff shortages,’ Ms Bex told the jury.’
‘He was therefore left unattended and without appropriate supervision.
‘Whilst this may no doubt be of concern to you, or indeed anyone listening, the hospital is not on trial here; whether it has questions to answer is for a different type of enquiry.
‘Importantly for your purposes, the institutional failure, or the failure of any individual member of staff, does not excuse what happened to (the complainant) or provide either of these defendants with a defence in law.’
The alleged victim claims they told Thomas they did not want sex, and staff did not help them after the attacks.
The alleged rapes only came to the attention of support workers when a fight broke out between Thomas and another patient who had been told what had happened, the court heard.
The transgender complainant phoned the police and was taken to King’s College Hospital, where they were interviewed.
On April 25, Thomas, who was still on Eden Ward, called police to tell them he wanted to put his side of the story across.
In a phone call played to the court, he said: ‘I’ve been accused of rape but I’ve not been interviewed.
‘All I did was kiss the girl. It’s a gender fluid girl that was admitted to Eden Ward saying she was a boy. She’s a girl but she says she’s a boy.
‘We both said we love each other so I don’t understand what’s going on here. Nothing happened, I’m telling you.
‘Staff keep saying “you raped someone” as a tool to wind me up.’
The same month, Badejo was transferred to the same hospital as the alleged victim due to an admin error.
His alleged rape victim recognised him at the Bethlem Royal Hospital in south-east London on April 27, 2022, and phoned 999.
Thomas was interviewed by police in October 2022 and answered ‘no comment’ to all questions until he was told his semen had been found on the alleged victim’s underwear.
He then provided a statement which said: ‘(The complainant) and I were very friendly to one another, and I didn’t force him to do anything.’
Badejo told police he could not recall any of the events when he was questioned that December.
Hospital support worker Pedro Egharavba told the trial he saw Thomas standing with his trousers halfway down his legs with the alleged victim in front of him.
Badejo had rushed over to the staff member to offer him a cup of tea as he walked past the door, he added.
Mr Egharavba said it had not occurred to him whether the person before Thomas was male or female.
He had been called in as bank staff due to shortages and had not been informed of any transgender patient on the ward, he added.
Charlotte Godber, defending Thomas, told the jury her case that there had been consensual sex with a female within a short space of time on the ward.
Thomas denies two counts of rape, Badejo denies one.
The trial continues.
