Jury Finds Collier Man Not Guilty In Rape Case Of British Tourist
A Collier County jury on Thursday found a former East Naples bartender not guilty of felony sexual battery of a British tourist in 2013.
The tourist sat in the stands during closing statements Thursday morning, holding hands with her fiancé and, at moments, rubbing away tears. But she did not attend the verdict, which came just 52 minutes after jurors broke for deliberation and lunch.
“I wasn’t surprised by the verdict,” defense lawyer Josh Faett said after court, noting his appreciation that jurors were patient enough to pay attention to all of the case’s minutia. “This was a brave verdict in the eye of public opinion.”
Samir Hoballah, 41, faced a felony sexual battery charge after a British tourist, 30, said he raped her as they walked near the beach.
She had gone to the Village Pub alone, where she met Hoballah, drank some wine and asked to see a beach. She wanted to take some pictures before her flight home the next day. After closing, they went walking on a boardwalk near Clam Pass.
There, the tourist testified Tuesday, Hoballah suddenly bent her over the railing, then forced her to the ground and raped her for several minutes.
A medical examiner who testified Tuesday said there were bruises on the victim’s upper shins consistent with being forced to the ground, although there was no vaginal bruising, which is often not present after a sexual assault.
“He raped (the tourist),” Assistant State Attorney Jen Brown said Thursday in her closing statement. “He denied it, but when the DNA came back, he couldn’t deny it,” she said, citing the positive DNA match found on the woman. “Now he says the only thing he can say, ‘Yes, I had sex, but it was consensual.’”
After Thursday’s verdict, Brown said she respects the jury’s decision and thanked the tourist “for coming all the way out here” three years after the incident.
On Wednesday, jurors first saw a 2014 police video interview in which Hoballah denied ever having sex with the woman or even flirting with her. “There was 100 percent” no sexual contact, Hoballah repeatedly told Collier Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Pilarski. “I did not kiss this girl. I did not touch this girl,” he said. “100 percent.”
But in court Wednesday, Hoballah took a rare gamble for this type of case and decided to testify. He reversed his previous statement, telling jurors that he did, in fact, have sex with the tourist.
He lied to Pilarski to hide the infidelity from his wife, who was pregnant at the time. “I’m a cheater,” he said in court. “I’m not a rapist.”
After the verdict Thursday, Pilarski expressed disappointment in the outcome.
Faett needed to show it was reasonably possible that the two had consensual sex on the boardwalk.
As an explanation for the looming question of “Why would she make it up?” Faett posited a motive commonly pursued by defense lawyers in sex cases: She wanted attention, specifically, that of an ex-boyfriend who recently broke up with her.
Throughout the trial, Faett tried to poke holes in the tourist’s story, such as the order in which she told people about the incident.
“When you talk about this and just bounce across the surface, the facts seem clear cut,” Faett said after the jury’s verdict. “But there wasn’t an explanation for those inconsistencies. … And they all pointed toward to the theory that she was trying to get the boyfriend back.”
“She didn’t plan on being here today,” Faett told the jury in his closing argument. “She was planning on getting her boyfriend back.”
Assistant State Attorney Steve Maresca asked jurors to strongly consider the tourist’s testimony, which was notably more stoic than Hoballah’s. Maresca conceded that she used poor judgment in getting drunk and going into that bar alone.
“But that’s not a reasonable doubt,” he said. “What that is is prey for somebody who wants to get what they want.”
The jury thought otherwise.
In the parking garage after the court adjourned, Hoballah thanked God and said he stands by everything he testified to in court “100 percent.”
