Two teenage girls were raped and abused by a man 'intent on sexual gratification' who plied them with vodka inside his flat, a jury has been told.
Defendant Denies Charges
Sultani Bakatash, 29, has gone on trial accused of five offences. He denies two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and a single charge of sexual assault.
The girls, both 14, were said by prosecutor Charlotte Rimmer to have been 'drifting in and out of consciousness' at the time of the alleged offences. Mr Bakatash, she said, 'seized the opportunity to rape and abuse them' when they were intoxicated.
Court Proceedings
Opening the case to a jury at Bolton Crown Court on Monday (June 15), Ms Rimmer said: 'The Crown alleges that this defendant met up with the girls on December 6, 2025. Once at his flat he plied the girls with alcohol to the point that they were drifting in and out of consciousness before seizing the opportunity to rape and abuse them. Persisting despite their efforts to push him away and hide in the toilet from him. A man intent on sexual gratification, regardless of what the girls wanted.'
The jury heard the police received a 999 call just before 11pm that day reporting an alleged rape at Georgina Court in Bolton. Ms Rimmer said when officers arrived, the girls were 'extremely distressed and intoxicated to the point where they were both drifting in and out of consciousness'.
Mr Bakatash wasn't there, but the jury heard 'documentation' was found suggesting he lived in a flat there. One of the girls was taken to hospital, the other to a police station.
Victims' Accounts
The jury was told they went on to give accounts to police about what they said happened. Both girls had travelled to Bolton from Manchester. Ms Rimmer said one told police she had met Mr Bakatash previously in Asda and they had added each other on Snapchat.
'She told him that she was 13 and he had told her that she was 'too young',' the prosecutor said. 'Despite this, he was content to communicate with her on Snapchat and agreed to meet on December 6.'
She said one of the girls told police they told him on the night they were 14, but 'this did not dissuade him from the sexual acts that followed'.
Ms Rimmer said the girls met him in Bolton before they got an Uber to his flat. 'As they approached the flat, he told them to be quiet and put their hoods up,' she said. 'He bought them vodka and they drank the three small bottles of vodka with coke, whilst he had very little to drink. They had had nothing to drink before they went to the flat, but both girls describe consuming the vodka far too quickly and becoming very drunk, to the point that they were falling over.'
The jury heard both girls then went on to tell police they were sexually abused and raped. Ms Rimmer said: 'Eventually the girls did manage to leave the flat although their recollection as to how they did so is limited. They recall fleeing the property, leaving their belongings behind, before banging on the door of a neighbour who called the police.'
She said one recalled being sick over an officer when police attended. The jury heard a neighbour, who went on to dial 999, 'heard banging' outside his flat as he watched TV with a friend. Ms Rimmer said it was one of the girls 'in a very distressed state, intoxicated and incoherent'. The jury heard she told the neighbour 'he is trying to rape my cousin - she's locked in, she's only 14, he's raping her'.
Forensic Evidence
Both girls suffered injuries, the jury was told. Forensic testing was also carried out. Ms Rimmer said analysis of DNA recovered 'suggests that it is a billion times more likely that this is his DNA as opposed to anyone else's'. Mr Bakatash was arrested and interviewed by police.
The jury was told he gave a prepared statement in which he said they 'engaged in consensual sexual activity at his flat which was instigated by them, and not him'. But Ms Rimmer said she believed 'his position has now changed' and he now 'denies that any sexual activity took place'.
'Is that right? Could that be right?,' she said. 'Have both complainants made up a pack of lies about this defendant? Have they simply invented the sexual abuse they describe? Or are they telling the truth when they describe this defendant plying them with alcohol before forcing himself on them.'
Mr Bakatash denies all the charges he faces.
