British rapper Slowthai and his friend Alex Blake-Walker raped two women after one of his performances, a court was told.
Slowthai, whose real name is Tyron Frampton (29), is accused of raping two women after a concert in Buckingham, Oxford in September 2021, the Guardian reports.
He and Blake-Walker deny three joint charges of rape and one count of sexual assault, claiming the women consented to all sexual activity.
Heather Stengo, representing the prosecution, said Frampton and Blake-Walker met a group of women before the show and gave some of them VIP tickets to the concert. After the performance, the women met the rapper on his bus.
According to Stengo, the women then took the group to one of their homes, where Frampton laid down two rules: "No phones and no guys." She described this as an indication of their "right from the start mentality".
In the house, as she stated, the women were "isolated from their friends". Stengo said the sole purpose of Frampton and Blake-Walker coming to the house was to have sexual pleasure, regardless of whether the women consented or not.
The prosecutor claimed that the men raped and sexually assaulted the women while "joking", and that they "greeted each other with palms, talked about 'changes' and considered swapping girls". She added that when the women's friends realized what was happening and told the men to stop, Frampton jumped off the balcony and ran away.
The prosecution pointed out that one of the women, the second complainant, "had been drinking for many hours" before the alleged event, and that she had consumed ketamine and cocaine that evening, but that did not mean she was incapable of consenting to anything.
Two women reported the incident to police that evening, Stengo said, after which Frampton and Blake-Walker were arrested and questioned. Both have denied the allegations.
Frampton's defense, represented by Patrick Gibbs, said that encountering female fans after performances was common. He urged the jury to remain impartial and said "the issue is whether the women consented or not", pointing out the difference between "consenting to something that seems exciting in the moment and regretting it later". He also stressed that the "celebrity effect" can make people "enthusiastically do things they wouldn't normally do."
Frampton appeared at Oxford Crown Court with his wife, pop star Ann Marie, whom he secretly married in July 2022.
Blake-Walker's defense is led by Cheryl Nwosu, who said he denies the allegations and that "all sexual contact and acts were consensual".
The allegations were first made public in May 2023, when Frampton appeared via video link at Oxfordshire Crown Court on two counts of rape. After that, it was removed from the programs of the Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds festivals.
Slowthai released two albums: "Nothing Great About Britain" in 2019 and "Tyron", which reached number one in the UK chart in 2021.
The trial will last three weeks.
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