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.
