The male model accused of raping an unconscious woman in a Manhattan apartment apologised, saying he thought the victim was her flatmate.
The woman, who had fallen asleep after a night of drinking, woke up to find Romero kissing her neck while having sex with her.
“I heard her say, ‘Get off me! Get off me!’ and then he said, ‘I’m sorry! I thought you were [your roommate],” the victim’s flatmate told The New York Post, saying she heard noises coming from the bedroom.
The accused, Henry Romero, had spent the night drinking with both women. The victim’s flatmate says she had told Romero he could sleep on the floor in their lounge so he didn’t have to make the long trip back to his accommodation.
But when he started “acting creepy” as the night went on, she decided to leave the bar and go home.
“He said, ‘I want you to dance for me — that’s why I brought you here,’” she recalled. “The way he said it was just weird.”
She left and got something to eat on the way home, saying that when she got there Romero was on the floor, sleeping.
Her friend, who was visiting from overseas had, for some reason, switched beds with her, so she went into the empty bedroom and fell asleep, only to wake a few hours later to a commotion in the next room.
She says she heard Romero apologising, saying he’d mistaken the victim for her flatmate, while the woman screamed, “What do you mean! She’s blonde and I have black hair!”
Romero was released on bail on felony rape charges and is due back in court on August 1st.
