Tourist tells of ‘sex attack’ terror

MAN, 31, DENIES THAT HE WAS INVOLVED IN ALLEGED ASSAULT

A MAN sexually assaulted a tourist in Piccadilly Gardens by ‘straddling her,’ a jury was told.

Abakwe Adam, 31, had been ‘causing a nuisance’ in the city centre before police became involved.

Asking him to move on, the officers ushered him towards Piccadilly station but he returned ‘within minutes,’ Manchester Crown Court heard.

The woman was sat by herself on a bench next to the Robert Peel statue when Mr Adam, of no fixed address, approached her, it was said. He then ‘wrapped his arms and legs around her’ before ‘rubbing himself ’ up against her, the court heard. The incident was said to have taken place over less than a minute.

The officers who moved him on witnessed the sexual assault and arrested him immediately, the jury was told. Mr Adam denies being involved, instead claiming it was someone else.

Addressing the jury, prosecutor Neil Fryman said the attack occurred at around lunchtime on May 14, 2019, on a woman visiting from Canada.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sat on a bench ‘minding her own business’ and didn’t know the defendant when he approached her, it was said.

Mr Adam fully denied the offence in interview, claiming he didn’t know he was doing anything wrong and ‘certainly didn’t assault anybody,’ the court heard. Giving evidence, the woman, in her late 20s, told the court she was visiting family and friends when she had stopped to ‘enjoy the weather.’

She described the man who approached her as being in his mid to late 30s, wearing a burgundy hat, with tight thin dreadlocks, a tan coat and blue jeans.

“He approached me and it was uncomfortable – he seemed antsy,” she said. “He came up to me, wrapped his arms around my body, pinning my arms to me, we were face to face.

“He wrapped his arms around my body, I couldn’t move my arms.” She said he straddled her leg and ‘was grinding’ ‘into my thigh.’ She said she shouted ‘don’t touch me’ before screaming and ordering him off.

She added: “I felt anxious and angry and vulnerable.”

Pc Lukman Intwala told the jury he was one of the officers who arrested Mr Adam at the scene.

He said: “He was seen by a radio operative on the CCTV acting suspiciously so we went to speak to the male. He didn’t make much sense at all, his words were slurred – he appeared to be drunk.”