Highcliffe man Emmanuel Maleh jailed for five years after raping woman he met on dating app Hinge

A woman who went on a dating app looking for her ‘Mr Right’ was raped by a man she had met through it.

The victim told Bournemouth Crown Court she had wanted only “love” and had been told by friends, after arriving in the UK from Nigeria, the best way of finding it was online.

She said instead of achieving happiness she had been left “broken” and she felt “dirty, useless, stupid, foolish”.

Reading her victim impact statement at the sentencing of her attacker, the woman said she had been “swept off her feet” by Emmanuel Maleh after the two were matched on the app Hinge in February last year.

She said he left voice messages for her in French after she told him she loved the language, adding: “I was so excited because I was about to meet Mr Right.”

Maleh (28), a care home team leader, told her he wanted a serious relationship and the two enjoyed talking to each other, the court heard.

But he then said he had heard Nigerian women were “good in bed” which upset her so she ‘unmatched’ with him on the app.

Maleh later found her again and begged to be given another chance. She said: “I was lonely and needed company, I ignored my instincts.”

The two arranged to go out for dinner on 4th March last year which she described as a “nice date” and, talking directly to Maleh in the dock, she added: “We went to a restaurant, I enjoyed your company.”

She said the two didn’t want the date to end, so decided to go back to his flat in Highcliffe.

The woman said she went knowing that sex was likely to happen, telling Maleh: “You made me feel comfortable, I was ready to have sex with you.”

The two indulged in heavy petting but the woman said she told the defendant she would only have sex with him if he used a condom. He did not have any so went out to buy one, but the shops were shut.

After he returned they participated in further sex acts but the woman said she repeatedly told Maleh she would not have sex with him without a condom.

But he had then told her “I want this, I need this” and raped her, telling her afterwards that he had “not had sex in a while”.

The woman said she was in pain and crying, and when he drove her home Maleh – who is from Cameroon and is in the UK on a work visa – kept apologising.

She later sent him a message saying she had not consented to sex and he replied saying he was “sincerely sorry”, adding: “I was just carried away.”

But after being arrested Maleh, of Lymington Road, Highcliffe, claimed the sex was consensual

He had denied the offence, forcing his victim to give evidence, and was found guilty of rape after a trial.

The woman said after the rape she had spent six months “just lying in bed crying” and had considered suicide saying she could not “live with the pain, shame, guilt”.

She also stopped taking diabetic medicine hoping that she would “die in my sleep”.

She told Maleh: “All I wanted was love, I didn’t deserve this. I wish you had stopped when I begged you to.”

In mitigation Julia Mackworth said Maleh was of previous good character but at “that fatal moment could not stop himself”.

She said that was not a defence but said there were circumstances where “even nice people cannot hold back”.

Jailing Maleh for five years, of which he will serve two thirds before being released on licence, Recorder Nicholas Haggan told him: “You have lost everything you worked for in your life.”

During the sentencing Maleh’s partner collapsed in court and had to be carried out. Maleh will also be put on the sex offenders register.

Detective staff investigator Dean Smith, of BCP CID, said: “The victim has shown tremendous bravery in reporting what happened to her and supporting our investigation.

“It was thanks to her courage that we were able to hold Maleh accountable for his actions and bring him before the courts to face justice.”