An asylum seeker has denied raping and sexually assaulting a woman in a London hostel.
Iraqi national Yousif Al-Maliki, 30, who is currently living at the Peckham Lodge Hotel in south London, has been accused of attacking a woman at the Astor Hostel in South Kensington on August 1.
Prosecutor Jose Olivares-Chandler told Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday that the defendant and complainant had met shortly before the alleged incident took place.
'This allegation arises from a hostel scenario where the defendant was in a dormitory with 12 beds,' the prosecutor said.
'This is a defendant who it is understood arrived [in the UK] on a boat crossing.'
