Jury urged to clear man accused of strangling girl

A lawyer for an Afghan man accused of strangling and attempting to abduct a 12-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by another man has urged jurors to acquit him of all charges, due to "insufficient evidence".

Mohammad Kabir, 24, had given a truthful account when he said he told the girl to go away during an encounter on a canal bridge in Nuneaton, in July, his defence barrister said.

Co-defendant Ahmed Mulakhil, 23, previously admitted oral rape but denied two other counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault, child abduction and taking indecent images of a child.

Kabir has denied intentional strangulation, committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence and attempting to take a child.

Prosecutors during the trial at Warwick Crown Court allege Kabir made sexual faces towards the girl and intended to take her away for a sexual purpose.

In her closing speech to jurors on Friday, defence barrister Deborah Gurden said Kabir was last seen with Mulakhil on CCTV about an hour before the victim was alleged to have been repeatedly raped by the 23-year-old.

"You may feel that what was said in the police station by Mr Kabir when he was speaking with the interpreter is quite important," she said.

"Mr Kabir when he spoke to the interpreter had not been given detail about the allegations.

"What does he say very early on? - 'I told her don't come near me, please go away, don't come closer'."

Gurden added: "You may feel that that's evidence that is important - and that that gives a true account by Mr Kabir of what happened."

The defence barrister also told the jury: "You have heard from the DNA analysis that none of the items that were analysed had Mr Kabir's DNA on them."

The lawyer submitted that the allegations against Kabir were at an "altogether different level" from what happened later on involving Mulakhil and the girl.

Asserting that Kabir had told the girl to go away and wanted nothing to do with her, Gurden added: "It's for that reason that I on behalf of Mr Kabir say that there is insufficient evidence for you to be satisfied so that you are sure that Mr Kabir tried to get her to go with him.

"If you can't be satisfied so that you are sure then you must find Mr Kabir not guilty."

The jury in the trial retired to consider its verdicts just after 15:00 GMT on Friday.

Before that, Judge Kristina Montgomery KC told jurors: "There is absolutely no pressure of time from the court on to you.

"You take as long as you need to return verdicts in the case."

The judge also urged jurors to ignore anything they had heard about majority verdicts, and strive to reach a unanimous decision.

The jury was sent home for the weekend after deliberating for about an hour without reaching any verdicts.

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