Not much here on how he 'pretended' to be a taxi driver, other than that was what the victim claimed.
Of course, for the rape charge to stand she'll presumably have to be deemed to have been incapable of giving consent, or similar, so to that degree her claim on the taxi angle might be considered doubtful.
Not that the taxi angle would make any difference to the central allegation, by the looks of things
Man accused of raping woman after pretending to be taxi driver in Northern Quarter, court hearshttps://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... r-22073281Ernesto Lusadisu denies all the allegationsImage: Manchester Evening NewsA man accused of rape picked up the alleged victim and carried her across the street “for fun” before driving her home to his flat, a court has heard.
CCTV footage shows Ernesto Lusadisu physically scooping up a young woman he had just met during an early hours encounter in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
Mr Lusadisu, 33, is currently on trial accused of raping her.
Prosecutors say Mr Lusadisu pretended to be a taxi driver, took the woman back to his flat, sexually assaulted her in the lift and then raped her in his apartment in the early hours of January 20, 2018.
The complainant - a woman in her 20s - asked Mr Lusadisu to use a condom in the hope of buying some time, the prosecution claims.
When he went to his car to fetch one, she fled from the flat and banged on a neighbour’s door to raise the alarm, prosecutors say.
Mr Lusadisu was arrested later that morning.
He denies the charges against him and on Thursday (November 4) told a crown court jury that the complainant agreed to be driven back to his flat where they had consensual sex.
The defendant told Manchester Crown Court how he had been with another woman, a ‘friend, on the night of January 19, 2018, and they had had sex.
He left her home and went to Deansgate Locks for a drink, but told his friend he had gone home, the court heard.
Mr Lusadisu said he then drove home via the Northern Quarter in the early hours of January 20, where he bought some chicken which he ate in his car.
Prosecutor Alaric Bassano asked Mr Lusadisu if he was in fact “cruising around in your car looking for a woman”. The defendant denied this.
Mr Lusadisu said he saw the complainant from his car and she seemed ‘fine’ and didn’t appear drunk.
When asked why he picked her out he said: “There was no special reason. I saw her, I just find attractive. I just want to meet and talk.”
Mr Lusadisu said he “just wanted to know her” and thought they could perhaps become friends.
He denied thinking about sex when he saw her and said he thought they could “try to know each other and see where our friendship will lead”.
Mr Lusadisu said he did not think the complainant appeared drunk.
“I could tell that she had a drink but not in the way where she can’t remember,” he told the jury.
“She knew what she was doing.”
The court was shown CCTV footage of Mr Lusadisu parking his car on a back street in the Northern Quarter at around 4.14am.
He could then be seen approaching the complainant and speaking to her as she sat on a step - an interaction Mr Bassano said lasted just 40 seconds.
Mr Lusadisu told the court that he had asked the woman if she was okay and she told him she had lost her friends.
He said she agreed to go to his place for a drink and he had told her he would then drive her home.
Mr Bassano suggested that the footage shows Mr Lusadisu looking around “to check the coast is clear” - something the defendant denies.
When asked why he had his arm around the complainant while walking to the car, Mr Lusadisu said it was “for fun” and said he would have removed it if she had asked him to.
When asked why he picked her up and carried her across the road before putting her down again - a scene captured on CCTV - he again said it was “for fun”.
Mr Bassano said: “Within one minute (of meeting her) you are physically picking her up and carrying her across the street. That’s for fun is it?”
“Yes,” Mr Lusadisu said.
The prosecution say the complainant believed Mr Lusadisu was driving her home because he was a taxi driver. Mr Lusadisu denied this.
He said: “She was in the city centre at 4am. I was a stranger to her. Never in this world has a taxi driver come to someone and say ‘can I drive you’. She knew what was happening.”
The prosecution says that Mr Lusadisu used force to take the complainant up to his flat.
The defendant denies physically holding the complainant on the way up to his flat in the lift.
He told the court that he “wished to god” that CCTV footage from inside that lift as he believes it would show “who is lying and who is not”.
Once inside the flat, Mr Lusadisu said he offered her a drink, which she declined and the pair had consensual sex.
The prosecution says the complainant asked Mr Lusadisu to get a condom to ‘buy some time’.
But Mr Lusadisu said the complainant would not have asked him to get a condom if it was not a consensual act.
Mr Lusadisu denies rape.
Proceeding.
Image: Manchester Evening News