Tourist: Zanzibar hotel staff confessed to assault before police dismissed case

Zainab Oladehinde, the allegedly assaulted Nigerian tourist in Zanzibar, says the staff of the hotel had confessed to the crime before the police dismissed the case.

Oladehinde had earlier narrated her near-rape experience at Warere Beach Hotel Nungwi in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

She said she travelled to Zanzibar on April 15, 2021, and booked a room at the beach-side hotel to celebrate her birthday.

The Nigerian alleged that, in the early hours of April 17, she felt a hand stroking her unclad body in her pitch-dark room.

She said this was despite that she had locked herself in before going to bed the night before.

Oladehinde said she woke up in shock to a naked male who attempted to rape her but she eventually escaped.

The accuser said she had reported the matter to the hotel but they dismissed her story as “lies”.

She added that the Tanzanian police also dismissed the case after a medical exam showed there was no penetration.

The hotel had countered Oladehinde’s account, saying it tried its best to support her after the incident but she refused to take the case further after it was reported to the Zanzibar authorities in 2021.

Warere Beach Hotel had alleged, in a now-deleted statement, that the accuser was having an affair with one of the security guards who it said claimed to have accessed her room with her consent.

It also alleged that the police suggested the matter was a case for the civil courts but the accuser had threatened to “tarnish” the hotel’s image if not compensated with $10,000.

In a follow-up Twitter thread, however, Oladehinde claimed that the two staff members suspected in the case had confessed to the crime while at the station before the dismissal by the police.

“After the policemen at the Nungwi police station chased me out of their police custody on the 18th of April, 2021, the district commissioner for tourism, Hon. Sadifa contacted me and sent his representatives,” the accuser tweeted.

“My friend had done a google search and contacted the commissioner earlier during the day.

“His representatives came to the police station. After listening to what I said and how I had been maltreated by the police, they condemned the policemen and started interrogating the suspects.

“One of the suspects who happened to be the security man at the hotel confessed to the crime. He was taken into the police cell immediately. He also said he had an accomplice who was the kitchen staff.

“In his words, he said the kitchen staff told him to come to my room and they both committed the crime together. The security man and the kitchen staff were kept in the police cell that night.

“This brings me to the fact that my instincts were right to not have called the attention of the men I saw by the pool that midnight because they were the same men who came into my room. The security man and the kitchen staff.”

Amid public outrage, the authorities in Zanzibar had vowed to re-investigate the matter.

Read the full follow-up thread here:

I knew the world wouldn’t believe me if I eventually tell my story one day. I’d share more details about my ordeal from Zanzibar and I hope you read this as a mother, as a father, as a sister, as a friend, and as someone who has loved ones they deeply care about.

After the policemen at the Nungwi police station chased me out of their police custody on the 18th of April, 2021. The district commissioner for tourism, Hon. Sadifa contacted me and sent his representatives to the police station.

My friend had done a google search and contacted the commissioner earlier during the day.

His representatives came to the police station and after listening to what I said and how I had been maltreated by the police, they condemned the policemen and started interrogating the suspects.

One of the suspects who happened to be the security man at the hotel confessed to the crime. He was taken into the police cell immediately. He also said he had an accomplice who was the kitchen staff.

In his words, he said the kitchen staff told him to come to my room and they both committed the crime together. The security man and the kitchen staff were kept in the police cell that night.

This brings me to the fact that my instincts were right to not have called the attention of the men I saw by the pool that midnight because they were the same men who came into my room. The security man and the kitchen staff. In his words, he said the kitchen staff told him to come to my room and they both committed the crime together.

The security man and the kitchen staffer were kept in the police cell that night.

I went back to the hotel that night feeling tired, sad, and angry.

This wasn’t the ideal birthday I had imagined in my head.

Hon. Sadifa demanded that the hotel put an extra security person at my door that night so I could feel safe a bit.

I knew I needed lawyers so I googled Zanzibar lawyers and found a law firm online called Zanzibar Female Lawyers (ZFL) Association.

I contacted them at 8 pm that night and sent my story to them via WhatsApp messages in hopes that they’d respond to me.

I requested to speak with the general manager of the hotel, Ms. Elizma. I asked her to come to see me in my room.

Ms. Elizma came to my room trying to sympathize with me. During our conversations, I requested that she allowed me to interview her so I can have our conversation on record.

I asked her questions regarding the incident and the steps the hotel would take to make sure I get justice.

She admitted that the incident happened and we called the hotel reception at midnight but she was on leave which is why there was no one at the reception that midnight.

She kept on saying she can’t confirm if the kitchen staffer was part of the crime and that the security man who confessed to the crime was not a direct staffer of the hotel.

When I asked Ms. Elizma, the hotel’s general manager about my stolen money, she said the hotel would give me food and accommodation as compensation for my stolen funds.

The next day on the 19th of April, The Zanzibar Female lawyers association responded to me and gave me an address to meet up with them the next day.

We went back to the police station to have a meeting with the district commissioner where I informed him that I’d need my lawyers present and would want to be taken out of Warere Beach Hotel as I didn’t feel safe there any longer.

The district commissioner, Hon. Sadifa took me out of Warere Beach hotel immediately and lodged me in a new hotel Next Paradise Boutique Hotel Zanzibar.

On meeting with my lawyers, Mrs. Jumah and Miss. Salma on the 20th of April 2021, they suggested that we demand [from] Warere Beach a full refund for my trip, the cost of my medical bills, my missed tour activities, and experiences, also to pay for damages on insecurity and negligence.

The lawyers and the authorities rounded this amount to $10,000 for damages.

This meeting was with my lawyers, Hon. Sadifa and Tanzanian immigration officers as my lawyers suggested I get my trip extended since I was supposed to be back in Lagos on the 22nd of April.

My lawyers and the district commissioner later summoned the hotel’s owner who was represented by her husband and told him the hotel would have to pay for damages to which he objected.

The co-owner of the hotel said I had 2 more days to stay in Zanzibar and I should press charges on the company they hired the security man from At this time, they had released the kitchen staff from the police custody and claimed the hotel had no relation to my incident anymore as their direct staff “the kitchen staff” wasn’t a part of the crime.

The Zanzibar female lawyers association suggested we take the case to the office of the second Vice President On the 24th of April, my family sent me some money via money gram since I’d be extending my stay and Mr. Suley the driver took me where I could get it in cash.

At this point, they had released the security man and the kitchen staff from the police custody even after they had testified to the crime. The lawyers couldn’t get an early appointment at the office of the Vice President as it was during the Ramadan season.

My lawyers got an appointment date with the second Vice President for the 2nd of May and begged me to stay in Zanzibar till May before leaving.

I didn’t want to oblige as I had a job to return to in Lagos but with the trauma, the hotel had put me through, I wanted their hospitality license revoked for their gross negligence and insecurity which almost took my life.

On the 2nd of May 2021. I, my lawyers, and the commissioner got to the office of the second vice president and the representative of the vice president said the government would take legal action against the hotel but they would need to invite the hotel owner for a meeting.

I was tired at this point and couldn’t wait to get back home so I changed my flight ticket to leave Tanzania on the same day as the final meeting.

The holy spirit had ministered to me that my life was in danger and I needed to leave that country as soon as possible.

On the day of the final meeting at the government house, I noticed the owner of the hotel and the representative of the Vice President were friends as they kept laughing and exchanging pleasantries. During this meeting, I suggested they speak English as I couldn’t hear what they were saying.

They claimed some of the officials present at the meeting do not understand English My lawyers presented my case once again insisting I couldn’t take them to court as that would mean I’d have to stay in Zanzibar for a longer period for court witness hearing.

The owner of the hotel insisted it was a personal case and none of his concern as the security man wasn’t a direct staff of the hotel. At the end of the meeting when I tried to leave for the airport, the government officials demanded to check my phone if I was recording.

My lawyers told them they wouldn’t allow them to search my phones as it was an intrusion into my privacy but they locked the doors against me and the female lawyers and said we wouldn’t leave without them conducting the search.

Because I had a flight to catch back to Lagos that same day and I didn’t want to miss my flight, I allowed their I.T personnel at the government house to search my phone. He went through all my WhatsApp messages, files, pictures, and everything on my phone.

They finally let us leave the room when they saw I didn’t record the conversation we had in that meeting. I left that office and proceeded to the airport. This day was the 5th of May, 2021. I had spent 3 weeks in Zanzibar and did everything I could to get justice for myself.

I left Tanzania a broken woman. The security man and the kitchen staff still walk freely, the hotel kept operating their business as usual but I became a shadow of myself. I’m still in therapy as I still suffer from the PTSD of that incident.

I would like to commend the Zanzibar Female lawyers association and Hon. Sadifa. These people did everything they could to ensure I get justice but they were silenced by everyone as the owner of the hotel frolics with top officials in the government.