Satan took over me: Afghan man's bizarre defence for raping 2 teens at his UK flat
An Afghan asylum seeker on trial for raping and sexually assaulting two 14-year-old girls in northwest England has given bizarre evidence in the court. In
An Afghan asylum seeker on trial for raping and sexually assaulting two 14-year-old girls in northwest England has given bizarre evidence in the court. In his defense, he told the jury that Satan took over him after he drank alcohol. Sultani Bakatash, 29, is on trial at Bolton Crown Court on two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault. According to the Manchester Evening News, he has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Read Full Story The prosecution said the alleged offences took place in December last year after Bakatash invited the two girls to his flat in Bolton. Prosecutors allege he supplied them with vodka before sexually assaulting them while they were heavily intoxicated. The court has previously heard that the girls were "drifting in and out of consciousness" and that Bakatash "seized the opportunity to rape and abuse them" while they were in that condition. DEFENDANT DESCRIBES EVENTS IN COURT Giving evidence on Wednesday, June 24, through an interpreter, Bakatash told jurors he had little recollection of what happened after drinking alcohol that evening. He claimed he became ill, dizzy and eventually "uncontrollably sleepy." He said he even fell asleep for a short time. Bakatash added that the girls were being loud inside his flat and that he had asked them to leave. During questioning by his barrister, Umar Shahzad, Bakatash was asked whether anyone had done anything to him.
"I can't say," he replied. When asked if he could explain what the girls were doing, Bakatash answered: "I can't say what they were doing, I was not in my self." Bakatash testified that he arrived in the UK in 2022 after leaving Afghanistan and seeking asylum. He said he had spent seven years working alongside the British military before fleeing because of the Taliban. "For reasons of their presence, I couldn't live there so I came here. Because I was working in the British military in different provinces in Afghanistan," he told the court. He said he initially lived in a hotel with his mother and siblings for a year and a half before moving to Bolton around two years ago. He also said he had been studying English and described his understanding of the language as "okay", although he struggled to hold conversations. Bakatash told jurors he first met one of the girls outside a McDonald's about three months before the alleged incident. According to his evidence, she and another person had asked him to buy them food after he had finished a gym session. "I said to her I didn't have any more cash or any money on my card but maybe some other time I could buy them food," he said. He added that the girl told him she was 18. They met again at an Asda supermarket, where she helped him find sugar after he had once picked up flour by mistake.
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