Saudi prince facing sex assault charge in Los Angeles

A Saudi prince has been arrested in Los Angeles for an alleged sexual assault on a women in a Beverly Hills mansion.

Officer Drake Madison of the Los Angeles police department told AFP that Prince Majed Abdulaziz al-Saud was arrested in the early afternoon on Wednesday after police were called to the gated compound.

He said the 28-year-old prince was arrested on suspicion of forced oral copulation of an adult and spent the night in jail before posting a $300,000 bail on Thursday.

Witnesses reported seeing a bleeding woman scream for help as she tried to scale the wall of the property, the Los Angeles Times reported.

On Friday, local police added that they were looking into accusations that al-Saud had sexually assualted other women at the mansion.

Al-Saud was renting the estate, police told the Los Angeles Times.

The prince, who was also detained for false imprisonment, battery and criminal threats, is due to appear in court on 19 October.

If convicted, he faces up to eight years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

In this case, the prince will not enjoy diplomatic immunity, according to the Los Angeles Times report.

Many members of the Gulf monarchies have multi-million dollar mansions in Los Angeles and it is not the first time one has had a run-in with authorities.

Last week, a member of Qatar's ruling family - Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad al-Thani - was questioned by Beverly Hills police after a video surfaced showing a yellow Ferrari speeding through stop signs and past pedestrians.

Residents called police who determined that al-Thani, a well known figure in international racing circles, owned the car. He denied that he was driving the vehicle and claimed diplomatic immunity before leaving the country.

In 2013, a Saudi princess was also accused in Los Angeles of enslaving a Kenyan woman as a housemaid, but the charges against Meshael Alayban were eventually dropped.