JURORS have been shown the route taken by a man accused of committing ten offences against women within an hour and a half in the streets of St Helier.
Abdelkarim Arfaoui denies offences against five different women, which he is accused of committing between 6am and 7.20am on a Sunday morning as his alleged victims were going to work or the gym.
The 27-year-old is on trial for one count of attempted rape, one count of grave and criminal assault, five counts of sexual touching without consent, two counts of assault and one count of threatening and abusive behaviour.
During the fourth day of his trial in the Royal Court yesterday, jurors were taken through the details of an extensive police investigation – detailing the itinerary Mr Arfaoui took on the morning in question, as well as the route of every woman accusing him.
The court has been shown numerous pieces of CCTV showing the defendant and the complainants on various streets in town, including an incident where Mr Arfaoui is alleged to have pinned a woman against a fence and forcibly kissed her.
Jurors have now heard accounts from all five women who claim to have been attacked.
Speaking in the Royal Court yesterday, the fourth woman to have encountered Mr Arfaoui described seeing a man she did not know who spoke obscenities at her and grabbed her buttcheek.
Asked how she felt after the attack, the alleged victim said: “Disgusted. Dirty. Lost.”
The last of the five women to give evidence against Mr Arfaoui said that she had been walking through town when a man approached her.
She told him: “I don’t want to talk to you.”
The woman said: “He had been following me quite closely and invading my personal space. I was worried he was going to do something and push me into an alleyway.”
She alleged that the man groped her and she pushed him back, telling him: “Don’t do that.”
The man verbally abused her, she said, adding: “I don’t remember what he said. I remember a lot of profanities.”
After she made a 999 call, Mr Arfaoui was arrested nearby. Police received reports from other women during the day.
Mr Arfaoui has claimed throughout the trial that he did not attack any of the women.
Advocate Greg Herold-Howes, defending, said that his client was drunk and asking the women for directions.
Members of the jury were shown CCTV and maps of the itineraries taken by the people involved.
The court heard from an expert who examined DNA found on the women, and from two forensic medical examiners who detailed the alleged victims’ injuries.
The trial continues today. Commissioner Alan Binnington is presiding.
