Charges were dismissed against a 20-year-old USC student who was accused of drugging and raping a fellow student in her campus dorm after video of her with the former suspect outside a bar showed her making a sexual gesture to a friend.
Surveillance video shared for the first time Monday shows the interaction between the woman and Armann Karim Premjee inside the Banditos bar near the USC campus.
"She put her arms on my neck, started kissing me," he said.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael E. Pastor dismissed a count of rape by use of drugs after hearing evidence at a preliminary hearing last week. A second count of sexual penetration by a foreign object was dropped by Deputy District Attorney Lana Kim partway through the hearing, Premjee's attorney said.
Premjee says the woman who was 19 was too young to be drinking at the bar, but she drank, nonetheless. He admits he was, too. He says their conversation led to a make-out session at the bar before she's seen pulling him by the arm outside.
Then outside, surveillance video shows her making obscene sexual gestures with her hands behind Premjee's back. He says they took an Uber to her apartment where surveillance video shows she signed him in as her guest. Premjee says everything that happened that night happened because the woman wanted it to.
"She was the sexual aggressor," he said. "I was the one who was consenting so there was no question about a sexual assault."
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In a Facebook message to Premjee a day later, the accuser says she was told she was with him the Friday before and that "We (expletive)." She goes on to say she doesn't remember because she was, "very obviously out of it."
But throughout the exchange, there's no mention of a rape. USC could still ban Premjee from campus, he said. He says the university hasn't closed its investigation and while the school wouldn't comment on specifics, the university said he's still enrolled for the fall semester.
"I don't have the outcome yet," Premjee said. "Even though the judge dismissed the case, USC hasn't made a decision."
A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman says officers presented the video to the Los Angeles County District Attorney when they filed the charges. The DA's Office says the case would not be refiled.
