Provo • In the days after she was allegedly raped in her Provo apartment, a 19-year-old Brigham Young University student said she didn’t want to report to police what had happened to her.
She was too much in shock to even consider it, the woman testified Tuesday in 4th District Court.
She thought the person who assaulted her was a 26-year-old man named West, someone who was single she met at the gym. It was when she learned from gym staff that he actually was 39 years old, married — and his name was Nasiru Seidu — that something changed.
“[I was] just disgusted,” she testified. “... I just remember, at that point, thinking if he’s this old and he lied about his name and his age, then he’s a predator.”
Knowing that made the woman, now 21, more open to the idea of reporting to authorities. But rumors that BYU’s Honor Code Office might somehow get access to her police report — and that she could be punished for reporting the assault — weighed on her.
“It would ruin my whole life,” the woman recalled. “Not only was I raped, I would be kicked out of school.”
But, eventually, the student did tell Provo police what happened. And Seidu, now 41, was charged with first-degree felony rape. The woman testified Tuesday on the first day of a two-week trial for Seidu.
The Tribune generally does not identify victims of sexual abuse. The alleged victim in this case has agreed to be identified in reporting about BYU’s sexual assault policies, but did not want her name published in coverage of the trial.
(Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune) Deputy Utah County Attorney Craig Johnson listens to recorded phone call by Provo Police between defendent Nasiru Seidu and a BYU student in Provo Tuesday Oct. 10. Seidu is accused of raping a BYU student at her off-campus apartment two years ago.
On Tuesday, Deputy Utah County Attorney Craig Johnson told jurors that this was more than a “he said, she said” case. The smoking gun? A recorded phone call set up by police between the alleged victim and Seidu, where the man can be heard admitting to sexually assaulted her.
“You say that I raped you,” Seidu says in a portion of the call played during Johnson’s opening statement. “I did and I want you to forgive me.”
Seidu’s attorney, Matthew Morrise, accused the alleged victim of lying about the rape to protect herself because she thought she might be pregnant — and was worried about getting in trouble with her school.
“The problem with the evidence you are going to hear in this case is that everyone involved was willing to lie to get what they wanted,” Morrise told jurors in his opening statement.
(Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune) Defense attorney Matthew Morrise makes opening statement to the jury in Nasiru Seidu's rape trial in Provo Tuesday Oct. 10. Seidu is accused of raping a BYU student at her off-campus apartment two years ago.
The defense attorney told the jury that Seidu himself was not truthful and would have said anything to keep having sex with the 19-year-old, such as lying about his age and marital status. That includes admitting to rape in the recorded phone call, Morrise told jurors.
Morisse said the student also gave differing accounts about the alleged rape to news reporters, and said she pushed for changes at BYU through media interviews in order to protect herself from being punished by the school’s Honor Code Office.
“In all of those interviews, she demanded BYU change its policy,” Morrise said, “that they were punishing her for being a rape victim. And it worked. Eventually, BYU changed its policy. [But] this trial is not about whether this was a bad policy change or a good policy change.”
But Johnson said the case isn’t about the BYU Honor Code or Seidu’s adultery. Those were distractions, the prosecutor told jurors.
“This case is about consent, or lack thereof,” Johnson said. “... Date rape is real and that’s what happened in this case.”
On the witness stand Tuesday, the alleged victim detailed her relationship with Seidu, saying she knew the man for a few weeks, and their relationship was casual. They had consensual sex before the alleged rape on Sept. 25, 2015, she testified.
The two began having sexual contact that was consensual on that date, the woman testified, but at some point she said she got a “really bad feeling” and told him that she did not want to continue.
Seidu then pulled off her clothing, threw her on her bed and began raping her, the alleged victim testified.
“I screamed,” she said. “I just remember screaming and screaming, telling him, No, get off me. He just didn’t listen … I thought maybe my neighbors would hear me, I thought maybe he would stop because I was being so loud. I tried to claw my way out, I just couldn’t move.”
After the alleged assault, the woman said she ordered Seidu to leave her apartment. She reported to police four days later.
BYU officials did find out about her case after a Utah County sheriff’s deputy who knew Seidu shuttled the police report to the Honor Code Office, which investigates allegations of student misconduct.
The school, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, enforces an Honor Code that forbids alcohol, coffee and premarital sex; imposes a dress code and curfew; and bans expressions of romantic affection between people of the same gender.
After outcry from the alleged victim and others, the school began studying its handling of sexual assault reports. Last October, it released a list of 23 recommendations for improving its response — including amnesty for victims who report being assaulted.
Seidu’s trial is expected to continue through Oct. 19. Attorneys say they expect to call the alleged victim’s friends and family to testify, along with expert witnesses and at least one news reporter who interviewed the woman.
If convicted of rape, Seidu could face the face a maximum penalty of up to life in prison.
Follow @jm_miller