A rapist lay in wait and preyed on drunken revellers who were ‘vulnerable through intoxication and easy prey’, a court heard.
Sid Ali Djelid, 48, is on trial accused of attacking five people – one woman and four men – in Manchester’s Gay Village, befriending four of them and creeping up on another down a darkened canal towpath.
After allegedly forcing himself on the complainants, the defendant, also known as Mourad Malki, stole their mobile phones, bank cards, and is said to have ripped a chain from around a man’s neck.
He was arrested when back in the popular party district – centred around Canal Street – three days after the fifth incident, when bouncers recognised him from a police appeal, jurors were told.
None of the complainants knew each other but it became clear to police from similarities in the alleged attacks that ‘one man was responsible’, the court heard.
Emma Kehoe, prosecuting, told Manchester Crown Court: ‘This is a series of attacks by one man who lies in wait for individuals vulnerable through intoxication’.
She added complainants were ‘easy prey for a man intent on targeting and attacking individuals to gain both possessions and sexual gratification’.
‘None of the complainants knew each other, they were independent of each other, yet similar in many ways.’
Ms Kehoe said that as police received reports of the attacks, ‘it soon became apparent a pattern was emerging’.
The first complainant, a female, reported a double rape and theft on February 18 last year, then a man reported a double rape and theft in the early hours of April 14.
Another male reported rape, indecent assault and theft a week later on April 21, while a man reported a double-rape and theft on June 12 and a fifth complainant, also male, reported a rape and theft on July 18.
The court heard Djelid, who lived in a rented house in Cheetham Hill, a district two miles north of the city centre, was arrested in The Village on July 21.
Ms Kehoe said the balding, stocky defendant was ‘recognised by door staff who had been provided with his image by police officers’. He was allegedly wearing the same t-shirt CCTV showed him wearing on July 18.
The April 21 complainant, who accuses Djelid of orally raping him and sexual assault by forcibly removing his trousers and shoes, said he was approached by the defendant after being refused entry to a bar.
The man told police he thought the defendant wanted to go for a drink but said they ended up walking to an underground car park.
In an interview with detectives played to the jury, the complainant said: ‘He linked arms and it was like a vice-like grip. It wasn’t friendly. I began feeling this wasn’t right. I looked around to see if anyone was about but couldn’t see anyone.’
The attacker shoved him to his knees, raped him, then pushed him to the floor and tried to strip him, the court was told.
When the attacker fled, the complainant, who had been to a show at the Co-op Live music venue earlier that evening, said: ‘I couldn’t understand how I had gotten here. How did I allow this to happen? I wouldn’t have voluntarily laid down on a concrete floor.’
When he put his clothes back on, he found several bank and loyalty cards were missing from his wallet and his Samsung mobile phone had been taken.
Checks with his banks revealed his Halifax and Monzo cards had ‘suspicious’ transactions declined at a petrol station in Cheetham Hill, jurors heard.
Ms Kehoe said the first complainant was a woman who had gone out in The Village alone and ended up making friends with groups of other female partygoers.
When she left the New Union bar on Princes Street in the early hours of the morning, the court heard her memory was ‘hazy’.
But jurors were told she believes she may have been walked to a car and driven to a nearby street. CCTV footage showed a man believed to be Djelid with his arm around her, the court heard.
At the rear of an office building, he shoved her up against a wall, ‘yanked down’ her dungarees and raped her twice, it is alleged.
Ms Kehoe described the woman as being ‘in pain’ and shouting loudly, prompting her attacker to yell back.
After he left, the complainant shouted for help and attempted to head back towards Canal Street, the barrister said.
The ‘distressed’ woman met two men who helped her and called police – at which point she realised her iPhone was missing, the court was told.
Djelid is then said to have struck on April 14, following a man walking back towards Manchester Piccadilly station when he accidentally walked onto a quiet section of canal towpath just outside The Village.
Ms Kehoe said the man, who was ‘tipsy’, was ‘unsure’ why he chose a different route from normal to the station – but suddenly heard footsteps behind him.
‘The steps got faster. He picked up his pace, he had a quick look over his shoulder, that’s when he saw a male,’ she added.
The court heard the complainant felt a hand on his shoulder pushing him ‘to his knees’.
‘He describes the force as like a tonne of bricks’, Ms Kehoe said.
After the complainant was orally raped, he tried to struggle free and was knocked to the ground, the court heard.
The man came round to find himself ‘pinned against a wall’ and being raped once again, Ms Kehoe said.
Once the attack came to an end, the man found his iPhone, bank cards and money were missing, the court was told.
The fourth complainant, a man who was allegedly raped twice in the early hours of June 12, had travelled to Manchester from Scotland for a work event.
He recalled being stood outside a bar having a cigarette and planned to return to his hotel when ‘someone approached him’.
Ms Kehoe told how CCTV showed the stranger ‘linked arms’ with the man and ‘led him on a lengthy route’ around surrounding streets.
Again, the attacker allegedly pushed the complainant ‘to his knees’, orally raped him, ‘turned him around’ and raped him again, the barrister said.
Ms Kehoe said that after the attacker ran away, the complainant found his phone and watch were gone along with a gold necklace given to him by his recently-deceased grandmother.
‘His ears were bleeding. He believes the defendant forcibly removed his necklace,’ she said.
In the last alleged attack on July 18, another man visiting Manchester from Lincoln was approached by a male offering to walk him to his hotel.
Instead, he led him towards isolated steps leading to the canal towpath, the court heard.
Ms Kehoe said: ‘The (complainant) began to realise things were not right. As they walked down some steps, he started to panic. He didn’t remember any steps on his walk from the hotel’.
The court heard the complainant felt being ‘pushed against a wall, (his) arms grabbed, his cargo trousers yanked down’ and he was raped.
After the attack, the complainant found his iPhone and wallet were missing from his trousers, the court was told. The man walked back out into the street seeking help.
Attempts were later made to use a bank card belonging to the fifth complainant’s partner, which was in his wallet. One, at the petrol station in Cheetham Hill, was successful, the court heard.
Most complainants described being attacked by a ‘middle eastern’ or ‘Asian’ male, the court heard.
Searches for their phones’ most recent locations showed they were in the vicinity of Cheetham Hill, some within a few doors of the home where Djelid lived.
The court heard the defendant admits theft from all complainants except the man allegedly attacked on April 14, ‘but denies any sexual offences’.
Ms Kehoe told jurors Djelid will claim sex with the four complainants was consensual.
He denies having encountered the April 14 complainant, stolen his belongings or having any sexual liaison with him, she added.
But Ms Kehoe said the April 14 complainant’s phone was recovered in an area close to the defendant’s home and there was ‘scientific evidence’ that the man’s coat had ‘connected’ with Djelid.
She also said CCTV evidence and DNA also linked the accused to his alleged crimes.
The trial continues.
The man who claimed he was raped stolen from in a car park on April 21 said he was ‘terrified’ during the alleged attack.
The complainant, who had been to a concert at Manchester’s Co op Arena said he was ‘very drunk’ when he was approached by Djelid near the city’s gay village.
Giving evidence in the witness box on Wednesday, he told the defendant’s barrister Jacob Dyer that Djelid was ‘smiling and flirty’, and he agreed to go for ‘one more drink’ with him.
The witness denied that he was ‘even remotely interested in sex’ with Djelid and ‘started to feel uneasy’ after the defendant linked his arms in a vice like grip and led him to the car park.
Asking the man why he walked with Djelid, Mr Dyer said: ‘Did you want to go with him?’
He replied: ‘At first it was fine but then started feeling uneasy about what was going on. Honestly, I was scared. I was drunk and I did no known what was happening.’
The jury was shown CCTV of the witness following the defendant into the car park at a distance of around six metres.
Mr Dyer said: ‘Do you accept it was pretty odd if you did follow him?’
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denied that he followed Djelid into the car park because he wanted to have sex with him or that he had suggested having sex and the defendant was ‘up for it’.
The complainant replied: ‘That is not what happened at all. Absolutely not.’
Mr Dyer asked why he did not walk away or run and he said: ‘I was scared.’
He denied Mr Dyer’s suggestion that he had initiated sexual contact between them and that the defendant had taken advantage of the situation to steal his bank cards and mobile phone.
The jury later heard that the fourth complainant alleges he was raped twice by Djelid on June 12 near the centre of the gay village.
The man, who had travelled to Manchester from Scotland on a business trip, was approached by the defendant in the smoking area of a bar near the centre of the gay village.
The jury were shown CCTV of Djelid linking arms with the complainant, who was wearing shorts, as they walked away from the bar to a fenced off area off a nearby side street.
Eight minutes later, CCTV footage shows the defendant running away from the scene of the alleged attack.
In a pre recorded video, the complainant said he had been having a cigarette after drinking in various bars when ‘someone approached me and we spoke’.
He said: ‘I don’t remember much but I remember walking down the street with him.’
He said the defendant led him to the side street where he pushed him down and attacked him.
The complainant said Djelid pulled down his shorts and raped him before running off.
He said: ‘I felt shame about being a man who was raped and did not want to tell anyone.’
The trial continues.