A man accused of raping a woman in Piccadilly Gardens has told a jury she was 'smiling' and 'laughing out loud'. Brian Jalo, 25, and Juan Quinones, 24, deny raping the woman in an alleyway near Piccadilly Gardens.
Both men say they had consensual sex. Their alleged victim has told jurors at Manchester Crown Court that she 'asked them repeatedly to stop'.
A third man, 21-year-old Justice Tandoh, denies three counts of aiding and abetting rape after being accused of acting as look-out. The court has heard that the young woman was in Manchester for a weekend shopping trip with a friend in May 2021.
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She had met Mr Jalo and Mr Quinones in the city centre the day before and exchanged Instagram account details with Mr Jalo, the jury was told. After spending the afternoon shopping and drinking, she went into Piccadilly Gardens at about 8pm the following day alone following an argument with her friend. She had received a text from Mr Jalo and later met up.
CCTV footage recovered by police showed to jurors covers the alleged incident. Prosecutors allege that Mr Jalo and Mr Quinones raped the woman as she was 'crying and saying no'.
But giving evidence in his defence, Mr Quinones denied that she was crying and told jurors that she was consenting. Asked if there had been any 'flirting' between him and the woman, he said through a Spanish interpreter: "I wouldn't regard it as flirting, but she looked at me and told me I have nice hair and a nice smile.
"But I didn't think that is flirting because I am frequently told that."
Mr Quinones said he and Mr Jalo began having consensual sex with the woman.
"She was not only smiling, she was also laughing out loud," he said.
"If she wanted to have sex with you two, why not just go back to her hotel room?," he was asked by prosecutor Robert Wyn Jones. "Because we hadn't planned anything," Mr Quinones replied.
Asked why at one point he stopped and got up to look down the road, the defendant said: "Because we were having sex and we were having it on a public road, and that's an offence in this country."
Mr Wyn Jones put it to Mr Quinones: "She is not consenting to any of this, is she?" "She is giving her consent to everything that happened," the defendant said.
"She was crying, wasn't she?," Mr Wyn Jones continued. Mr Quinones replied: "At no point was she crying."
Prosecutors claim that Mr Quinones and Mr Tandoh were seen 'fist pumping' following the alleged rape. Asked about this, Mr Quinones said: "He (Mr Tandoh) is the one who approaches me and gives me his fist, all I have done is reply in the same manner."
Mr Quinones said he threw his T-shirt in a bin after the incident because he had 'stains' on it. Asked why, he said: "Because we had other plans, we were going to meet with other girls, they were waiting for us."
Mr Jalo, of Sugar Mill Street in Salford and Mr Quinones, of Sarsfield Close in Manchester, each deny three counts of rape. Mr Tandoh, of Davenport Street in Tameside, denies three counts of aiding and abetting rape. Mr Tandoh also denies a charge of sexual assault against the woman.
Proceeding.
