Posted on August 25, 2022

Diplomat Accused of Raping His Neighbor Flew Into Drunken Rage at White Neighbor Who Roused Him From Drunken Stupor

Paul Farrell et al., Daily Mail, August 23, 2022

The South Sudanese diplomat accused of rape is a drunk who once attempted to instigate a racially motivated fight against a white neighbor who attempted to wake him from a drunken stupor, DailyMail.com can reveal.

That incident occurred outside of the Bronx building where he is now accused of forcing his way into a neighbor’s apartment and sexually assaulting her – only to flee thanks to his diplomatic immunity status.

Charles Dickens Imene Oliha, 46, lives in the building near 191st Street in upper Manhattan with his wife and their four young children.

Charles Dickens Imene Oliha

Charles Dickens Imene Oliha

A neighbor, Melvin, said Oliha and his wife regularly would sit outside the apartment building on foldable beach chairs drinking together, sometimes with their two daughters.

Melvin said: ‘One time, we saw him passed out and my friend went to wake him up. The guy woke up and started wildin’ out. My friend, cause he’s white, gets called a racist and stuff. The guy started wanting to fight him calling him a racist and all ‘a that. We had to separate them.’

He also commented about the suspect’s poor personal hygiene and said that although Oliha would dress well, he had an unpleasant odor.

‘Other than that, he was pretty chill. We would give each other cigarettes every now and then.’ Other than those interactions, neighbors said that they have limited interactions with him.

DailyMail.com earlier revealed how prior to the incident, Oliha spent his days drinking Coors Light outside the building where he lives with his wife and four young children.

In our exclusive video, Oliha is seen passed out in the street, drunk after a session of downing Coors Light, barely a month ago.

His next-door neighbor said they had seen a social media video of Oliha passed out drunk.

The neighbor added: ‘I’ve seen the video of him passed out drink. I saw it in person too.’ Despite his constant drinking, his neighbor said Oliha was: ‘Never not polite.’

Another neighbor Emilio Joubert, 25, told DailyMail.com that he had seen and Oliha and his wife outside of their building every day for the past two weeks. Joubert said that he knew Oliha to say hello too.

During one interaction, Joubert said that Oliha let him and his girlfriend into their building after management changed the doors to a key system.

Following Sunday’s incident, Joubert said that he and his girlfriend were considering contacting management: ‘We don’t feel safe here,’ he said.

On Sunday night, another woman in the apartment building called police alleging that he had followed her into her unit and raped her twice – once with a condom and once without – then fled.

Oliha was taken into custody but was released after invoking his diplomatic immunity. Now, he is nowhere to be found.

The Permanent Mission of the Republic of South Sudan to the United Nations, for which Oliha works, has refused to answer questions about the case or whether or not he is hiding in the embassy.

The State Department will not confirm whether it plans to revoke his diplomatic status in order for him to face charges, and there is no sign of Oliha at his home.

In a statement, South Sudan’s Minister of Foreign Affirs Mayiik Ayii Deng told VOA: ‘The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has learned with regret the alleged rape incident involving one of our diplomats at the permanent mission in New York.’

‘The report from the permanent mission indicated that one of our diplomats was accused of rape by one of the local women in New York City. He was briefly interrogated and detained by the NYC police,’ the statement continued.’

The minister added: ‘However, as per the report the investigation is still ongoing and will soon have clearer details of what has transpired in the incident. The administration, myself and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is paying keen attention to this report and will urgently take appropriate measures to address it very soon.’

Neighbors told DailyMail.com that he was often outside in the afternoons and evenings and that the behavior in the video is nothing out of the ordinary.

‘Everyone knows him around here as a drunk, he drinks every night on that front step.

‘He’s not a diplomat. In the morning he’s a gentleman in his suit.

‘In the evening he’s a drunk. He sits on those steps every day drunk and drinking.

‘He used to tell everyone he worked for the UN but no one believed him because he was always drunk.

‘It wasn’t until this happened that we all were like wow he wasn’t lying,’ one neighbor, who declined to be named, told DailyMail.com on Tuesday as cops stood guard outside Oliha’s wife’s apartment.

It’s unclear how how he obtained his position representing South Sudan in America and at the UN.

According to his online credentials, he moved to the US in 2008 with the Mission. Oliha describes himself as the founder of the National Frontiers’ Party.

The suspect formerly worked as a diplomat in the nation of Laos in south east Asia.

In May 2021, Oliha was featured in a video produced by the Vietnam News Agency in which he thanked that country’s government for providing South Sudan with a large number of facemasks amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Oliha regularly updates his Facebook page. His most recent post is a a music video titled ‘Sip (Alcohol.)’ In a status update a few weeks earlier, Oliha joked that people who don’t drink alcohol should leave those who do alone.

The suspect regularly made posts mentioning the death of his mother in November 2021. While in October 2021, he posted a video promoting a taser for women to use against male attackers.

More recently, in July 2022, Oliha wrote on Facebook: ‘Hmmm… Monkeypox. The bisexual are in trouble if what the doctors are saying is true. May straight orientation be bless.’

The State Department has refused to give any details of whether or not he remains in the country, or if there are plans to revoke his immunity.

‘We are aware of the incident referenced involving a diplomat accredited to the United Nations.

‘We take these allegations seriously, and we are working closely with the New York Police Department and the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs, as we do in all legal and criminal cases involving foreign diplomats assigned to Permanent Missions and Observer Offices at the UN.

‘We do not comment on the specifics of ongoing investigations.’

Stephane Dujarric De La Riviere, a spokesman for the UN, where he worked, told DailyMail.com that he was not an employee of theirs, but that they would continue to monitor the police investigation.

‘We are aware of this report, which is very concerning. Any case of alleged sexual assault needs to be fully investigated.

‘This particular case involves a member of the Permanent Mission of South Sudan who is not a staff member of the United Nations. This is a bilateral issue between South Sudan and the US authorities’.

Mayor Eric Adams was cagey in his response to inquiries too.

‘Sexual assault of any kind should never be tolerated. There is an active investigation underway. Depending on the results, we will take all appropriate actions.’

Now, Oliha is in the wind.

The victim has not been named for legal reasons, and it’s unclear whether or not she knew Oliha before Sunday’s incident.

She told police she was returning home from walking a neighbor’s dog when he pushed in her apartment door and raped her after pinning her against a wall.