Brother of footballer Titus Bramble guilty of rape
The brother of Sunderland footballer Titus Bramble has been found guilty of raping a 19-year-old woman.
Tesfaye Bramble, also a footballer, had denied raping his victim at the Vermont Hotel in Newcastle in September 2010.
But the 30-year-old, from Ipswich, was found guilty of the attack after a four-day trial at Leeds Crown Court.
Titus Bramble, 29, was originally arrested with his brother following the complaint but was released without charge after being questioned.
Tesfaye Bramble was warned that a jail sentence was "inevitable".
Titus Bramble was present in court on Friday when the verdict was read out.
He gave evidence during the trial and told the jury: "I assume that when a girl's coming back to a hotel after the club, it's for sex."
Tesfaye Bramble has played international football for Montserrat and appeared in the Football League for Southend United and Stockport County.
The victim, who is now 20, said she met the Bramble brothers and their entourage in the VIP section of Madame Koo's bar, Newcastle, on 22 September last year.
'Try my luck'
The footballers were in the bar following a Sunderland match and had booked three rooms at the Vermont.
The woman said one of the men, Simon Pharaoh, helped her take her drunken friend home to Jesmond.
She then drove Mr Pharaoh back to the hotel and accepted his invitation to go in.
The victim told the jury that, after chatting to the group, she went to sleep in a single bed with Mr Pharaoh.
When she woke, she told the jury: "A big black figure was on top of me."
The hearing heard that the woman left the hotel shortly afterwards.
She said: "As I was driving, I was retching. I was in shock. I cried like I've never cried in my life."
Tesfaye Bramble told the jury he had got into the bed to "try my luck" and the sex had been consensual.