Ex-JLS star Oritsé Williams charged with rape
The former 'X Factor' star was arrested in December 2016 over an alleged attack on a woman in a Wolverhampton hotel room.
By Will Stroude
Ex-JLS star Oritsé Williams has been charged with rape over an alleged attack on a woman in a hotel room in Wolverhampton.
The 31-year-old singer from Croydon, South London, was arrested in December 2016 the morning after a performance in the city’s Goergeous club, the BBC reports.
West Midlands police confirmed that Williams had been charged with one count of rape. Another man, Jamien Nagadhana, 31, of Hounslow, has been charged with one count of assault by penetration.
Both men will appear at Walsall and Aldridge Magistrates’ Court on October 11.
Williams previously denied the allegations in a statment released through his management after his arrest.
Williams was arrested the morning after a performance at Wolverhampton’s Gorgeous club in December 2016.
It read: “All we wish to say at this time is that Oritse denies the allegations against him. The matter is in the hands of the police and it would be totally wrong for us to comment any further.”
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: “Police have charged two men with sexual offences following an allegation of rape at a Wolverhampton hotel in December 2016.
“Oritse Williams, aged 31, from Croydon, London, has been charged with rape.
“Jamien Nagadhana, aged 31, from Hounslow, London, has been charged with assault by penetration.”
After finishing runner-up to Alexandra Burke on The X Factor in 2008, Williams scored six UK Number Ones as part of JLS before the group broke up in 2013.