An Italian graphic designer who lives in the UK is facing jail after he raped an Airbnb apartment host before promising to leave a “good review”.
Diego Dellarovere attacked the woman at her home in Croydon, South London, as she welcomed him as her first-ever guest.
After the attack, the terrified victim barricaded herself in her bedroom with a block of knives to avoid the 43-year-old.
Dellarovere claimed he had pulled his trousers down during a “moment of passion” and that the sex was consensual but jurors agree he was convicted of rape, sexual assault and assault by penetration.
Croydon Crown Court heard how the pair were sitting on the sofa drinking wine when the Italian man, Dellarovere offered her a massage.
He then put some spa music on and grabbed some oil but the victim told him: “I don’t want this”.
Despite her pleas, the successful graphic designer pulled his trousers and underwear down and forced the woman to perform a sex act on him.
After she locked herself in her bedroom with her pets, Dellarovere messaged her saying: “Seize the moment. Life is beautiful”.
She then texted him accusing him of being a “predator”, causing him to reply: “You really need more light in your soul, more freedom. The men are not all about evil.
“Why did you send that message?”
Dellarovere then told her the following morning: “I’ll leave a good review.”
After he left, the victim sent two voice notes to her friend the next day, saying: “I have got a bit of a story to tell you about Diego.”
She said they were “chatting” on her sofa when she realised he was “getting a bit handsy”.
The woman added: “At one stage that conversation went quiet and he went to give me a hug then started licking and sucking and kissing my neck, and he was quite forceful about it.
“At one stage he had managed to get my top off and then I was like ‘You need to stop this’ but it was a good half hour more [before] stopping his advances.
“I was like ‘I think you should go to bed’ and he went to bed and I barricaded my door.”
The woman told her friend how Dellarovere then began texting her asking if she wanted to share a bed, vowing: “I won’t do anything”.
When they met up later that day, the pal told the court the victim became “very distressed, very teary and started to shake”.
She added: “She was scared, she was terrified of what was going to happen that she just kept saying ‘I don’t know why this happened to me’” ‘ and she kept repeating ‘I said no’.”
After the discussion, the host reported the incident to Airbnb and then to the police.
Dellarovere will be sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on January 31.
