A man convicted of raping a woman outside an Innsbrook nightclub will get a new trial.
Driton Sulejmani, age 25, was facing a 15-year-sentence for the attack last July. He was convicted in February.
On Wednesday, his attorneys convinced Henrico circuit judge Gary Hicks that inconsistent statements from the victim has not been admitted.
A new trial date could be set at the end of the month.
Sulejmani, a married man, is said to have met and spent time with a woman in the bar that night and then walked out with her at closing time. Sulejmani’s attorney claimed the pair was headed to have consensual sex.
However, court documents revealed a different, violent picture. The alleged victim told police after the friend she went with to the bar left, Sulejmani offered to walk her to her car.
Once they turned the corner, she alleges the suspect motioned her to the bushes and then “threw her against the wall, striking her head and physically assaulting her, and even forcing her to perform oral sex.”
The victim reported that she was dazed after she hit her head and that her nose was bleeding because Sulejmani allegedly threw her to the ground, hitting her twice in the face.
When the suspect left the area documents show he ran into the alleged victim’s friend, who asked where she was. He allegedly replied that the woman had left.
The woman’s friend only returned to the scene because she got worried when the alleged victim did not answer her phone.
We will continue to provide updates for this story.
