Black African migrant soccer player from Ghana accused of rape on beach

[Whitebear]

Black African migrant soccer player from Ghana accused of rape on beach near Santa Barbara


Junior midfielder Eric Frimpong leaves fellow members of the UCSB men’s soccer team in his tracks during practice on Monday afternoon. The native of Sunyani, Ghana, was recruited from Kwami Nkrumah University while members of the coaching staff were in Ghana.

U-C Santa Barbara's athletics director says the school will cooperate fully with a police investigation into a claim that a soccer team player raped a woman on an Isla Vista beach. Gary Cunningham also says he's "very distressed and saddened" to learn about the reported assault and allegations against Eric Frimpong. Authorities say Frimpong was arrested for investigation of rape on Saturday and released on 100-thousand dollars bail. Frimpong's attorney says his client "adamantly asserts his innocence and denies that this ever happened."

Please tell me why nationals from Africa and China are heavily recruited to play in the United States?

[Whitebear]

Ghana native UCSB soccer player, accused of rape, testify in court

Eric Frimpong

Monday, June 18, 2007

SANTA BARBARA


A UCSB soccer player, accused of raping a woman and sexually assaulting another, spent the day in court. Absent from the courtroom Monday were some of Eric Frimpong's "supporters", his teammates from the UCSB championship soccer team.

A sheriff's detective testified that after the Ghana native was charged with rape, a female student claimed one month before, Eric Frimpong had sexually assaulted her.

He said she told him that Eric tackled her to the ground after the two had been running wind sprints on the beach.
She said he grabbed her by the waist and tried to kiss her.

[Rasp]

Former Soccer Star Faces Eight Years Behind Bars

Former Soccer Star Faces Eight Years Behind Bars
Frimpong Guilty

A jury of nine women and three men took less than a day of deliberation to find former UCSB soccer player Eric Frimpong guilty of rape, leaving a 19-year-old victim relieved the trial is over and a group of Frimpong’s supporters wondering what went wrong.



The jury gathered in the jury room briefly on Friday, December 14, before Superior Court Judge Brian Hill sent them home early for the weekend. By 3:30 p.m. Monday, a verdict had been reached. Despite the amount of evidence presented, prosecutor Mary Barron wasn’t surprised by the length of time the jury took to come to a conclusion. “I thought the evidence was very strong in this case,”�”� said Barron, who on Friday called the evidence “unrelenting.”�”� The judge took a poll of the jury after the verdict was read, asking each individual if they agreed with the finding. All of the jurors, some of them crying and emotional, said yes. “It was hard because none of us wanted it to be that way,”�”� one juror said later. The victim wasn’t in the courtroom Monday for the verdict, but the small contingent of people who have been by Frimpong’s side were, including Paul Monahan, who has paid for much of Frimpong’s legal defense. Monahan’s son, Patrick, was a roommate with Frimpong at UCSB. When the verdict was read, Paul Monahan’s wife burst out, “It’s not right.”�”� And then Frimpong was led off in handcuffs to begin his sentence, the length of which will be determined January 31 when Hill will decide if the Ghana native will serve three, six, or the maximum eight years behind bars. The defense will be appealing the outcome, although on what grounds isn’t clear. Defense attorney Bob Sanger filed multiple motions for mistrials throughout the case, based on apparent prosecutor missteps along the way. A motion for a retrial has already been filed, according to Monahan and Tim Vom Steeg, UCSB’s soccer coach. Sanger didn’t return multiple calls to his office before deadline.

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