Man accused of rape in Nuneaton denies 'circling' streets looking for 12-year-old girl
23-year-old Ahmad Mulakhil is on trial at Warwick Crown Court
An Afghan national accused of targeting and repeatedly raping a 12-year-old girl has denied "circling around" the streets to find her after she was allegedly strangled on a bridge.
In his second day of evidence to Warwick Crown Court, Ahmad Mulakhil denied that he had a sexual interest in the girl after she had talked to his friend, Mohammad Kabir, in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, last July.
Mulakhil told the court, on Tuesday, that he did not force the girl to do anything, had not threatened her family, but had filmed her during a brief period of sexual activity because she had insisted.
Addressing jurors through a Dari interpreter on Wednesday, Mulakhil said the girl told him she was 19 and she appeared to be in her early 20s.
Mulakhil, 23, of no fixed address, has admitted oral rape but denies two other counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault, child abduction and taking indecent images of a child.
Fellow Afghan national Kabir, 24, denies intentional strangulation, committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence and attempting to take a child.
Prosecutor Daniel Oscroft asked Mulakhil if he and Kabir had split up to look for the girl, with the younger defendant responding: "No. We were in front of her."
Asked if he knew that the girl was young by looking at her, Mulakhil added: "No. You can tell from her face that she looks 20-22 years old."
Mr Oscroft then asked: "You were circling around looking for the girl, weren't you?"
Mulakhil replied: "She went the opposite direction and I was taking a different direction. How come I was looking for her?
"After the girl ran away on the bridge, I asked Mohammad Kabir who is this girl and Mohammad Kabir told me she asked him, 'where are you from?'
"And she was also saying, 'I am 19 and I want to come to your house' and that kind of thing."
Mulakhil also said, referring to extensive CCTV footage which has been shown to the jury: "As you can see in the videos, we never chased or followed that girl."
The trial continues.