Charles Oliha, 46, is a South Sudanese career diplomat for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in South Sudan.
On Sunday, August 21, he was accused by a 24-year-old neighbor of rape at their New York City apartment building on Wadsworth Terrace in upper Manhattan.
The woman, at first so shocked that she didn’t report the attack, was convinced by a neighbor to do so. She told police that she was walking a friend’s dog, and that a man accosted her in the lobby and followed her up to her apartment. He barged in and raped her twice.
She underwent medical examination at New York Presbyterian Hospital.
Police were able to identify the man and brought him in for questioning about 12 hours after the attack. However, when they determined that he was a diplomat, they said they had to let him go, due to “diplomatic immunity.”
Deputy Commissioner Julian Phillips of the NYPD said that the matter was still under investigation but it was a “state department concern.”
NYC Mayor Eric Adams commented on the attack and said that the investigation was not over. “Never should any form of sexual assault be permitted,” he insisted.
The spokesperson for the UN Secretary General, Stéphane Dujarric, said that they were aware of the situation and were disturbed by it. She clarified that the man is not an employee of the United Nations. He is a member of South Sudan’s Permanent Mission and is a career diplomat. The US government and South Sudan have to settle the dispute diplomatically via the State Department. She said the UN was cooperating with the NYC Police and the Mayor’s Office of International Affairs.
Neighbors who were interviewed by reporters said that the diplomat has a wife and kids. One neighbor said that Oliha allegedly has a drinking problem and was seen passed out on the sidewalk, drunk, several times. Others confirmed that he would buy and drink a lot of beer.
In cases like these, the US government has the ability to evoke a diplomat’s immunity.
It is unknown if Oliha is still in NYC or has fled the country.
