Men who filmed themselves raping woman in nightclub then ran off high-fiving each other both jailed for 7 years

Victim left in ‘constant fear’ and unable to relax when she goes out

Two men who high-fived each other after they filmed themselves raping a woman in a London nightclub have been jailed for seven-and-a-half years each.

Ferdinando Orlando, 25, and Lorenzo Costanzo, 26, both Italian nationals, carried out the attack in the maintenance room of the Toy Room club in Soho on 26 February, 2017.

CCTV captured the men high-fiving and hugging each other afterwards, while their 23-year-old victim lay abandoned in the club’s toilets in extreme pain.

They escaped justice for more than a year after the incident by returning to Italy, but were eventually arrested by police.

Following a trial, a jury found the men guilty of two counts of rape each.

Sentencing the two men at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday, Judge Giles Curtis-Raleighn said they had committed “very serious offences” against “an entirely innocent and vulnerable young woman”.

He said that as the defendants led the victim off the dance floor of the club to the maintenance room they were “clearly acting together”.

“Each had sex with her both oral and vaginal at a time when she was incapable of consenting, you being aware of that,” he added.

Commenting on the victim’s injuries, the judge highlighted that medical evidence in the trial “makes it clear that the doctors cannot say how that injury happened” and as a result the defendants would not be sentenced on the basis they caused it.

The judge noted that afterwards the pair exhibited “what was referred to as triumphalist behaviour”.

When his accomplice Orlando was convicted by the jury, Constanzo collapsed, hitting his head on the security screen around the dock and knocking himself out. He only learned he had been found guilty when he arrived at hospital.

In an impact statement, the victim said she remembered feeling in “incredible pain” and was left barely able to walk.

The rape has left her in “constant fear” and unable to relax or enjoy drinking with friends when she goes out.

The victim, who could not remember the attack, added: “When I found out more than one man was involved I felt violently ill with the thought that two men did something this horrible ... to me.”

After discovering her attackers had filmed the rape, she said she felt “so angry” it “made me want to vomit”.

She added: “I truly struggle with how two humans could behave like such animals to another person and think of that as funny and like a badge of honour.

“I did not consent to having sex with either or both of these people that night or at any other time.”

Police said nightclub CCTV footage from the night of the attack showed the defendants each kissing and dancing with the victim, who is visibly drunk and unsteady on her feet.

Propping her up, and just eight minutes after their first interaction, they lead her into the maintenance room, where there were no cameras, and she was raped.

Police and prosecutors argued the woman’s condition meant she was unable to consent to sex with the men.

About 16 minutes later the three re-emerged, with the defendants rearranging the victim’s clothing before they walk her to the female toilets and abandon her.

The two men ran outside and high-fived each other before watching back footage of the attack on a mobile phone, which they show to another person.

Police said they made lewd gestures and re-enacted to each other their actions during the rape.

Meanwhile the victim, who did not know her attackers, was left in the toilets for more than an hour before being found by club staff in severe pain.

She was helped home by a French couple, and a housemate called the ambulance service who alerted the police.

She was later taken to hospital for surgery for her injuries.

Constanzo left the UK just hours after the attack and Orlando returned home around a week later. Both men had girlfriends at the time.

Costanzo was arrested at Heathrow Airport in March 2018, while Orlando later contacted police and returned to the UK by appointment where he was arrested.

At trial, the two men admitted to watching the mobile phone video of the incident, but claimed they had consensual sex with the victim.

Mitigating, Sarah Elliott QC, representing Orlando, said he was a “fundamentally decent... young man who made a colossal error of judgment”.

Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC, representing Costanzo, said he was of “previous exemplary character” and there had been no “malice” or “force” but a “terrible error of misjudgment”.

Both said the two men, who have no previous convictions, felt “regret” and “remorse” over the incident.

Detective Sergeant Rebecca Woodsford, from the Metropolitan Police, said she had informed the victim of the sentence over the phone.

Speaking on her behalf, the officer said: “Yes, it does matter to her but it was the conviction, and that the jury believed her, is what she has taken away from this.”

Additional reporting by Press Association