Omar Bawo, whose address was given as Stapleton Road, Easton, Bristol, was accused of raping a woman at a barbershop at Underhill Circus in Barton.
The 38-year-old had denied two counts of rape, relating to an incident on August 28 2021, and his trial started at Oxford Crown Court on Monday, February 9.
On Wednesday, February 11, a jury found him not guilty by a unanimous verdict.
The jury previously heard that on the day in question, a woman in the area wanted to make a phone call and had run out of credit on her mobile phone.
She went to the barber shop, as she had used the phone there before, to make the call.
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However the barber inside, who was said to be Bawo, allegedly locked the doors and took her into a back room.
The prosecution said he laid her on the floor and raped her. Bawo was then said to have held her over a toilet and raped her again.
However Bawo told the jury that the woman was his girlfriend and that the sex was consensual.
He told the jury that he was born in The Gambia and moved to the UK in 2005. He said he’d been a barber for 16 years.
Bawo said he was renting a chair at the barber shop in Barton at the time of the incident. He added that he didn’t have a work permit.
Bawo told the jury that the complainant was his ‘girlfriend’.
He said: “We kissed and had sex together. She would just walk down to Barton and see me in the shop. Some of my friends knew we were together.”
Bawo was asked about the events of August 28, 2021.
He said: “She kissed me and hugged me. It was normal because she was my girl. We connected our bodies.
“She removed her bra and trousers. I removed my top. And then we had sex.”
Bawo added: “She wanted more. Her mood was good, she was fine.”
He was asked how he felt when he was arrested. Bawo said: “I was confused and scared. I didn’t rape anybody.
“I was concerned about my status. I didn’t have a work permit, I was scared.”
The jury was previously shown a video recorded interview the woman gave in October 2021.
She said: “I was on the floor and he was on top of me. I was crying, I told him to stop. I couldn’t get up, he was holding my arms on the floor.
“He raped me on the floor, he was getting more forceful. I just waited for it to be over. The more I was crying, the more excited he was getting.”
The woman added: “I’ve spoken to him before and he’s normally alright. He was sniggering, like he didn’t care what he had done.”
