A 35-YEAR-OLD accountant assaulted a sex worker when she refused to give him his money back – and he then sought to stop the press from reporting publicly on the case, the JEP can reveal.
But Mobolaji Gureje’s bid to have the hearing held in private was thrown out following submissions made by the prosecution and the Jersey Evening Post.
This newspaper can now report details of that ruling following Gureje’s guilty plea and sentencing in the Magistrate’s Court for common assault.
One of the arguments used by his defence to justify a secret hearing was “cultural stigmas” attached to adultery and the use of sex workers.
Gureje, an audit manager working for global accountancy firm KPMG, contacted the sex worker online and met her in the flat she was renting on 24 February last year, paying her £150 in return for sex.
The court heard he stopped after ten minutes because the woman did not seem to be enjoying it, and asked for his money back.
She refused and when she began recording him on her mobile phone, Gureje tried to stop her.
Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam, prosecuting, said: “He grabbed her wrist. There was a scuffle and, in the confusion, she was punched and kicked. The defendant left the apartment with her phone.”
The woman suffered bruising to her chest, thigh and face.
Advocate Allana Binnie, defending, suggested a binding-over order, describing the assault as a “spur-of-the-moment, impulsive reaction”.
“He only wanted to stop her recording,” she said. “It caused three low-level injuries.” She added that his job in finance was at risk as a result of conviction, saying: “He has given his family a good life in Jersey and that life is now in jeopardy.”
Since the case Gureje had attended mental-health charity Mind Jersey, and she explained: “He wants to try to use this to become a better person for the sake of his family.”
Advocate Binnie also pointed out that Gureje was considered at low risk of reconviction and that although he had not pleaded guilty immediately, he did so well before a trial would have had to take place.
She said: “This is out of character for my client. He will never come to the attention of the criminal justice system again.”
Assistant Magistrate Adam Clarke bound Gureje over to be of good behaviour for 12 months.
He accepted that the offence was “spur of the moment and out of character” but said he could not impose a fine because Gureje had not admitted the offence early on.
