Internationally renowned Ghanaian-British architect, Sir David Adjaye, allegedly s*xually assaulted two employees who have come forward with their story.
The two, alongside a third woman, claim a pattern of inappropriate s*xual behaviour and harassment have ruined their lives since coming into contact with David Adjaye.
The Financial Times ran a lengthy exposé on the famous architect, who is in charge of designing the heavily panned National Cathedral project.
In interviews with the Times, the ladies, using pseudonyms, revealed their troubling encounters with Sir Adjaye.
FT writes that the architect took two employees (using the pseudonyms Maya and Gene) to a hotel room and attempted to initiate s*xual contact. One fled but the 2nd said she was tipsy and not entirely in control of what happened that night.
“According to both Maya and Gene, Adjaye left the living room soon after they entered the flat, and then reappeared in a robe. He steered both women into his bedroom and propositioned them, stroking and grabbing Maya.
This triggered an argument with Gene. She had been friends with Adjaye for more than a decade and on three occasions had had sex with him. But she only accepted the job in Accra, she says, after having made it explicitly clear to him that their relationship from then on would be strictly professional. “I said, ‘No, this is not right’ . . . I said he was our employer. But he persisted. He applied more pressure and the feeling was, if you don’t do this, you’re silly, you’re stupid,” said Gene.
She left the bedroom, saying to him that she was on her period, and stood outside by the door, unwilling to leave the apartment without Maya but unable to watch what was happening in the bedroom.
Maya said that she was tipsy, having drunk strong cocktails over dinner, and that Adjaye, after drawing her into the bedroom, pulled her on to his bed.
Maya said he told her: “You’ve just got to do this.” She continued: “I felt overpowered, both emotionally and physically . . . There was this domineering feeling of ‘I’m going to have my way with you, and that’s it.’”
Maya said her recollection of exactly what happened next is blurry, which is not uncommon with people who have experienced a traumatic event. But she remembered “feeling that his penis was on me” and described the incident as an assault. They both left the bedroom a few minutes later, where Gene confronted Adjaye again, accusing him of abusing his position. After he told them to leave, the women returned to Maya’s apartment which was in the same complex, where they say they sank to the floor in tears.
Another lady, identified as Dunia, described a similar violating incident. She went on to have an affair with Adjaye but she claimed he was domineering, abusive and manipulative.
She narrated how he assaulted her in the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
“After the dinner in central London, Adjaye asked her to drive him to the Royal Academy of Arts, well after closing time. He used his sway as a member of the institution to gain entry from a security guard and as they walked through the building Dunia says Adjaye pushed her up against an alcove. “He told me to be a good girl and be quiet,” she said. She felt blindsided and froze as his tongue pushed into her mouth. “He was pressed up against me and his penis was erect,” she said. “That’s where the fairytale ended.”
The three ladies are coming public with their stories to stop Adjaye from hurting any more ladies.
For his part, the celebrated architect denies any wrongdoing and said whenever there was a relationship with these ladies, it was consensual.
Read the full article at the Financial Times.
Source: GhanaCelebrities.Com