Micheal Ward arrived at Snaresbrook Crown Court today to stand trial for multiple charges of rape and sexual assault, where it was heard that he raped a woman in a car after meeting her at a nightclub.
The Top Boy actor, 28, is accused of five offences relating to one woman, with the incident reportedly taking place in January 2023.
It is said that Ward met his alleged victim for the first time at an ‘all-white party’ at Infinity Lounge nightclub in Gant’s Hill, east London, on January 1.
Prosecutor Tracy Ayling KC told jurors that the ‘young woman’ had seen Ward ‘on TV and in films,’ and he asked her for her Snapchat username.
As guests started to leave the event at around 2:30am on January 2, the woman was asked to join Ward in the back of his friend’s Mercedes.
While in the car, they kissed on the lips, with the woman consenting to his touching her vagina, the court heard.
Then, Ward invited her to an afterparty in Stratford, and the alleged victim and her two friends agreed they would attend before their return to Suffolk.
Jurors were told that she felt a ‘weird vibe’ at the second party, mostly attended by men.
Having spoken to just a few people, she left after a short period.
Upon exiting, she saw Ward outside, where he asked her where she was going.
Informing him that she and her friends were going home, as they had a long drive ahead, Ward suggested that she walk up to a car that was parked further up the road so he could talk to her again.
The court heard how the woman said she was given specific instructions to walk behind him and not to talk to anyone en route.
As Ward got into the driver’s seat, the woman entered the passenger side. He kissed her and invited her to climb into the back.
Ward ‘became quite impatient’ and told her to ‘stop wasting time,’ Ms Ayling told the court, after the woman initially told Ward he could just kiss her while in the front of the vehicle.
After getting into the back seat, Ward is alleged to have sexually assaulted the woman by kissing her breasts.
She told him, ‘I don’t wanna do that,’ jurors heard.
While in the car, Ward allegedly proceeded to commit assault by penetration of her vagina and anus with his fingers, the court heard.
The woman told him that ‘this was not a situation [she] wanted to be in,’ so she opened the car door, ‘feeling uncomfortable.’
Jurors were told how Ward ‘quite sternly’ instructed her to close it.
Ward is then alleged to have orally raped the woman, with the victim feeling ‘pressured.’
The court heard how the actor told the woman: ‘When I tell you to suck my d**k, what do you do?’
Following the alleged assaults, the woman went back to her friend’s car, and Ward messaged her a ‘teary-eyed emoji and a heart emoji,’ to which she replied by telling him to ‘enjoy the rest of [his] evening.’
She was in pain on the way home, with jurors hearing that she ‘experienced a stinging pain in her vagina and bottom.’
While driving back, she ordered an STI kit, ticking a box to say she had been sexually assaulted.
Following that night, the woman continued exchanging some messages with Ward on ‘friendly terms,’ having not ‘fully come to terms with what had actually happened to her.’
Ms Ayling said the woman did not make an immediate report to the police because she did not ‘really understand’ what she had experienced.
Because of Ward’s status and ‘who he is,’ she also ‘didn’t feel she could speak out.’
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Ward was arrested on January 18, 2023, and told police in a prepared statement: ‘I deny the allegation of rape. I want to put on record that we had consensual foreplay and consensual sex.’
He continued: ‘I recognise that proceedings are now ongoing, and I have full faith that they will lead to my name being cleared.
‘Given those proceedings, I am unable to comment further.’
Last August, he made bail on the condition that he did not contact the alleged victim, again denying the allegations.
Ward is best known for Top Boy, but also appeared in Blue Story, Eddington, and Small Axe. He won the Bafta Rising Star honour in 2020, as well as being nominated for best supporting actor twice.