He gave evidence before cross examination started
One of the alleged incidents took place on Cat Gallows bridge on July 22 last year.
An Afghan national has been accused of ‘splitting up’ with his co-accused to look for a 12-year-old girl. Ahmad Mulakhil took to the stand in the ongoing trial at Warwick Crown Court today (February 3).
Prosecutor Daniel Oscroft KC accused Mulakhil of purposefully ‘splitting up’ with his co-accused Mohammed Kabir to look for the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons. It has been claimed by the prosecution that Mulakhil raped the girl in a grassed area off Cheverel Place on the evening of July 22 last year.
The 23-year-old denies this. His co-accused, Kabir, who is 24 denies strangling the girl during an alleged incident earlier on in the day on July 22 on Cat Gallows bridge.
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The court had previously heard that the pair had seen the girl in Malborough Road recreation ground, where Kabir is said to have spoken to the her. Mulakhil told the court he did not speak to her, as he was on his phone.
The girl went out of the park and then the two men headed towards Cat Gallows Bridge. The girl then came onto the bridge. This is where Kabir has been accused of strangling her.
Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Oscroft said to Mulakhil: “She walked past you and your friend on the bridge,” to which he replied, ‘Yes’.
“Something happened between her and your friend Mr Kabir on the bridge, didn’t it?” Mr Oscroft added, with Mulakhil saying ‘No’.
“You were on the bridge with her and Mr Kabir for about five minutes weren’t you,” Mr Oscoft said. Mulkahil replied: “I don’t remember the exact time duration as I was busy on my mobile phone.”
Mr Oscroft went on “Something happened on that bridge to cause you and Mr Kabir to split up.”
“No, on the bridge we were together, it was after the bridge we separated,” Mulakhil said, to which Mr Oscroft replied: “And you separated as you were both looking for her, weren’t you?” to which he replied ‘No’.
His cross examination is set to continue tomorrow.
One of the alleged incidents took place on Cat Gallows bridge on July 22 last year.
Mulakhil had previously said in court that he thought the girl was 19-years-old and today, during his evidence, said that she had been ‘following him’ and was insisting to ‘go to his house’.
Marcus Henry KC, his defence, said: “Why did you walk with her?” to which he replied: “She was insisting that she wanted to come to my house.”
Mr Henry asked: “And what did you say?” and Mulkahil responded: “I couldn’t speak (the language) well, so I told her it was not possible.”
He said that they were both using Google Translate on his phone to talk to each other but said sometimes he still did not understand. They were walking in Cheverel Place and he said he sat down on the grassed area, off the footpath.
The 23-year-old claimed that it was the girl who had initiated sexual interaction, not him.
The court had previously heard how indecent images were found on his mobile phone, this included composite images made of photographs and stills from videos.
Mr Henry said: “Who took those images?” to which he said: “The girl wanted to take the videos and it (the phone) in her hand and then I took the video and then I deleted them later.
Mr Henry said: “To be clear, she wanted to take them? to which Mulakhil said: “Yes.”
Mr Henry pressed whose hand was on the phone when they were taken and Mulakhil said: “In my hand but her hand was also close because it was her insistence, she was insisting a lot.”
Mr Henry added “Did you force her to do anything?” ‘Did you threaten her family?” and he responded ‘No’ to both.
The trial continues.
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