In a bid to have a memorable 23rd birthday celebration, Zainab Oladehinde travelled to Zanzibar, an island in Tanzania, in April last year. Before leaving Nigeria, she booked a six-day accommodation at Warere Beach Hotel, a resort that is very close to the deep blue and clean looking part of the Indian Ocean.
Her vacation plans included spending some time to explore the hotel and the beautiful beaches surrounding it, and engaging in other activities that tourists like her would not only find exciting, but also adventurous and memorable.
However, all the activities she had lined up for the celebrations got shattered overnight when she became a victim of sexual molestation and theft.
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In a series of tweets, Zainab explained how she had spent the past year getting therapeutic help as a result of the ordeal she suffered while in Zanzibar.
THE TWO-DAY JOURNEY FROM LAGOS TO ZANZIBAR
“On the 15th of April 2021, I flew from Lagos, Nigeria to Zanzibar, Tanzania for my 23rd birthday and I was extremely excited about it,” Zainab’s tweet reads.
“I had my reservations about going to a foreign country as a solo female traveller but none of my thoughts would have prepared me for what I eventually witnessed and experienced in Tanzania.”
After a lengthy journey that had Zainab travel for 48 hours, she eventually arrived at her destination on April 16, 2021.
When she eventually checked into her hotel room, she was so exhausted from the trip that she had a meal and went to bed.
She spent the following day resting and making new friends.
STRANGER IN ZAINAB’S BED
In the early hours of April 18, Zainab woke up to find a stranger in her bed. The unknown man had stripped himself naked and joined her in bed.
“There was a naked man lying on my bed and touching me at 2am in my hotel room! He started calling me “baby” and then I became scared cause the room was dark as I had switched off the lights before I went to bed. Now, I was extremely scared. I asked the man ‘who are you?’ But all he kept saying was ‘baby, baby’. I asked in a louder tone this time around because I was getting angry and then he quickly stuffed his hands over my mouth in an attempt to stop me from shouting.”
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The stranger would choke her, squeezing her throat as she struggled to resist his assault. The man spoke in the native Swahili, making Zainab believe he could not speak English.
THE HIV IDEA
As the struggle continued, she conceived an idea. She mentioned HIV to her attacker numerous times. The plan was to make the stranger believe she was HIV positive. In the end, it worked.
On hearing that his victim was ‘HIV positive’, the stranger relaxed his clutches around her neck and left the room. This gave the Nigerian tourist an opportunity to flee the room and look for help.
“Immediately he left, I switched on the light, and tried to call hotel reception but to my surprise, there was no intercom or phone lines to reach the hotel reception through the room,” Zainab further said.
“How can there be no phones in the room of a hotel that was supposedly 4.5 star rated in Zanzibar? I immediately locked my doors, ran to the bathroom and called my friend.
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“I couldn’t stay back in the room and wait for the rapist to come back. Hell! Who knows what would happen to me this time around when he comes back to my room. Should I leave my room? I don’t know who or what is outside my hotel room either!
After some terrifying minutes avoiding the guards outside her room, she eventually got help from a Russian couple.
“Almost immediately, I remembered the Russian couple I had spent some time with the day before and I could go to their room to seek refuge. I hoped their room wouldn’t be locked so in case I get noticed, I would be able to call for help before anything happens to me.
“Fortunately for me, the room was opened and I ran inside. They woke up almost immediately and I told the guy, Alex, how I was strangled and almost got raped in my room. He advised that I stay in his room till we sort out the issue by day break. I called my friend to tell him I was in another room where I felt safe and he told me had called the hotel owner. This was around 4am in the morning.
THE STOLEN MONEY AND NUNGWI POLICE OFFICERS
On returning to her room in the morning, she discovered that the $1,100 she was intending to spend during her stay had disappeared from where she kept it. Someone had entered her room and looted it after she fled.
She then decided to visit Nungwi police station, the station closest to the hotel, to lodge a complaint.
According to her, the officers she met at the station questioned her repeatedly and after a while, asked to write a statement. Afterwards, she was advised to go to visit a nearby hospital for medical examination.
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As a result of the poor treatment she was subjected to by the police officers, Zainab decided to take a photograph of the police station. The police officers were unhappy about this development and a senior officer demanded that she deleted the photos before she could visit the hospital for her test.
She also pointed out that the police officers spoke in Swahili most of the time, including when she was questioned. Zainab knew it was a deliberate attempt to continue to keep her in the dark over the investigation they ought to conduct.
She however continued to take photographs and refused to delete them until the policemen eventually allowed her to visit the hospital.
HOSPITAL REPORT AND THE CONCLUSION DRAWN BY THE POLICE
At the hospital, it was confirmed that Zainab was not raped. The medical officers that attended to her also said they could not ascertain if she was assaulted.
With this, the police officers dismissed her case and insisted that she was being dishonest. They also concluded that she was never assaulted at the hotel.
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Warere Beach hotel has since closed off its comment section on Instagram to prevent Zainab from complaining about her ordeal. The owner of the hotel and the hotel manager have also insisted that Zainab lied about her experience.
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