Bramble brother guilty of rape

THE brother of footie ace Titus Bramble was warned today he faces an "inevitable" prison sentence after being found guilty of raping a teenage girl.

Tesfaye Bramble — who played for Southend United, Stockport County and Stevenage before his career was ended by injury — raped a 19-year-old woman in the Vermont Hotel in Newcastle after a night out in September last year.

A jury at Leeds Crown Court took five hours to find 30-year-old Bramble guilty of rape by a majority of 10-2.

The victim, who is now 20, gave evidence from a behind a screen in court and the jury was also played DVDs of interviews she gave to specially-trained police.

She told the trial she met the Bramble brothers and their entourage in the VIP section of Madame Koo's bar, in Newcastle city centre, on September 22 last year.

The footballers were in the bar following a Sunderland match and had booked three rooms at the Vermont.

The woman said one of the men in their group - Simon Pharoah - helped her take her drunken friend home to the Jesmond area of the city.

She drove Mr Pharoah back to the hotel and accepted his invitation to go in.

The victim told the jury that, after chatting to the group in one of the rooms, she went to sleep in a single bed with Mr Pharoah, who is white.

When she woke, she told the jury: "A big black figure was on top of me."

The woman told the officers: "I was in shock. This isn't right."

She said she then put her knickers in her bag, grabbed her hair extensions and ran out of the hotel in panic.

"As I was driving, I was being sick," she said. "I was retching. I was in shock. I cried like I've never cried in my life."

Bramble told the jury he had got into the bed to "try my luck" and the sex had been consensual.

The jury has heard how, in his police interview, Bramble said: "They don't just come back to the hotel to go to sleep, they come back for sex."

Bramble said he was in a relationship which had been going on for about five or six years, off and on, and had a one-year-old daughter.

Titus Bramble gave evidence in his brother's defence.

He said he had been going out in Newcastle for years and "nearly every time a girl came back to the hotel, it was for sex".

He added: "I assume that when a girl's coming back to a hotel after the club, it's for sex."

Tesfaye Bramble showed little emotion as the verdict was read out, but shook his head and looked at the floor.

Judge Geoffrey Marson adjourned sentencing until August 5 for a pre-sentence report.

Bramble was bailed so he can "put his affairs in order".

But Judge Marson told him: "You understand a custodial sentence is inevitable."

Right, this might sound a little bit of a strange answer here but, it makes you wonder just why these lasses hang onto footballers or celebrities.

I mean don't get me wrong , the lass could well have been raped but are they really that naive that they think they can go to Hotels and homes with players and expect a cup of tea and biscuits.

The problem with rape claims is, that it's hard to know who's telling the truth when it comes to things like this with footballers.

We all know many footballers who have wealth and status in the game can become so smug that they believe they are gods gift to women and on that note, they only have themselves to blame if it all goes wrong and someone cries rape.

Obviously it appears that this lass was so distressed and he's been found guilty, which if that's what she claims happened,really happened then he deserves what he gets.

He says it was with her consent but who really knows.

Any woman who hangs onto footballers or celebrities and goes back to Hotels are obviously looking for either sex, or to try and coax hush money out of them.

I think the so called naive type lasses are in the extreme minority when they say they didn't think things would lead to sex e.t.c.

Just my opinion of course but i just think there;s too many people out to make a buck on the back of stuff like this and it doesn't just extend to women, it extends to men capturing female celebs as well.

I understand where you are coming from wolfie, but you would have to be pretty sick to cry rape and ruin someones life all for some money