Lynn rape suspect maintains innocence during testimony

SALEM – A Lynn man denied charges that, in two incidents, he raped a woman who was asleep after a party, testifying Wednesday that he was being made a scapegoat for each alleged victims’ infidelity.”I am innocent, they are just lying,” Steven Konyaki, of Lynn, testified at his trial in Essex Superior Court Wednesday.Konyaki, 33, is charged with two counts of rape; one count stemming from an alleged incident in November 2010, and the second count from an alleged incident in July 2011. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial began Monday in Essex Superior Court in Salem.According to testimony, each alleged victim had been asleep after drinking and partying with Konyaki and other members of the local Tanzanian immigrant community. Each victim said she woke up to find Konyaki on top of her and raping her. In each incident the alleged victim said she pushed Konyaki off and told another man at the house that she had been raped. Konyaki was subsequently chased out of the home or into hiding in each incident, according to testimony.Both Essex Assistant District Attorney Jean Curran and defense attorney Hilary McCamic have noted the similarities in each alleged incident.But while Curran seems to be implying the incidents follow a pattern, McCamic seems to be suggesting the similarities are too perfect. McCamic specifically cited discrepancies in the first victim’s testimony before the grand jury, during the trial and in what the alleged victim told police the night of the incident.Testifying in his defense Wednesday afternoon, Konyaki said that each of the women who accused him of rape was trying to cover up her own cheating.Konyaki testified the first alleged victim was flirting and dancing with him the night of the alleged incident. He said the first alleged victim performed oral sex on him when he went to use the bathroom after the first alleged victim had gone to bed. When the first alleged victim’s boyfriend became suspicious why Konyaki had taken so long upstairs and began yelling at the first alleged victim, Konyaki testified the first alleged victim accused him of rape.Konyaki said the second alleged victim was with a mutual friend rather than her boyfriend on the night of the second alleged incident. But Konyaki testified he and the second alleged victim both slept in the living room because his room had bedbugs and she didn’t want her boyfriend to find her with the mutual friend. Konyaki said he woke the second alleged victim because she was exposing herself while she was asleep. Awaking and finding herself naked, the second alleged victim accused him of rape, Konyaki said.Konyaki said he subsequently fled to Canada for asylum because he was afraid.”I was in the newspaper in America and was afraid people would beat me up or kill me for doing something I did not do,” Konyaki testified.But during cross examination, Curran noted Konyaki didn’t seek asylum until after he had been arrested in Toronto. Curran questioned how long Konyaki had been in Canada before his arrest.Konyaki testified he had spent two or three days in Montreal, approximately a week in Quebec City and was in Toronto a day before he was arrested in an Internet cafe.”I didn’t go to the immigration office in Toronto for asylum because I didn’t get an opportunity to go before they arrested me,” Konyaki said. He had earlier testified he had been told he had to go to Toronto to seek asylum.Cross examination is scheduled to continue today.