A teenage girl told police she 'kept thinking I was going to die' after she was allegedly raped and sexually assaulted by a man inside his flat. She told police that she felt 'trapped' during the alleged attack by Sultani Bakatash, 29.
A jury at Bolton Crown Court has been told two teenage girls - cousins aged 14 - were raped and abused by Bakatash after he plied them with vodka at his flat in Bolton. He denies two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and a single charge of sexual assault.
The girls were said by prosecutor Charlotte Rimmer on Monday to have been 'drifting in and out of consciousness' at the time of the alleged offences. Bakatash, she said, 'seized the opportunity to rape and abuse them' when they were intoxicated.
Today (Tuesday) the jury was shown video of one of the girl's police interviews at Bury police station on December 7, 2025, the day after the alleged rape. In it she described how during the alleged attack she felt 'trapped'. 'I just kept thinking I was going to die,' she said.
She also told how when she first met Bakatash in Bolton town centre a few months earlier he 'circled round her' before asking her age. When she told him she was 13, he replied that she was 'too young', she said. The girl said she later saw Bakatash in Asda, which is when she gave him her Snapchat details.
She said that on the day of the alleged assault the two girls had been in Manchester before catching a bus to Bolton, where they met up with Bakatash after they messaged each other on Snapchat. She said they then got an Uber to his flat, stopping at a nearby Morrisons to buy three small bottles of vodka, coke and a pink Monster energy drink.
She told police Bakatash claimed to be 22 years old and bragged about owning a business in Dubai. But, she said, when he tried to order a takeaway over UberEats it was declined because his account didn't have enough money in.
The court was also shown footage of a second police interview in which the girl said part of her braces snapped off when Bakatash grabbed her by the mouth. She also said that after fleeing the flat she left behind her schoolbag, a jumper and a hoodie.
On Tuesday afternoon the girl gave evidence from behind a screen in the witness box at Bolton Crown Court. Umar Shazhad, defending, asked why she had refused to give her phone and her SnapChat log-in details to police after making the allegations. 'I didn't want to,' the girl replied.
'Is it because you were hiding something on your phone,' he asked. 'No,' the girl replied. 'Were you messaging people from the flat,' he asked. 'No,' the girl replied. Asked if she had saved Bakatash's number on her phone under the name 'Town paedo', the girl replied: 'Yes.'
Mr Shahzad also asked about about the girl's alcohol consumption on the night of the alleged assault. 'Is it possible that what you remember isn't quite right because of the alcohol,' he asked. 'I wouldn't say that,' she replied. 'You were so drunk you kept passing out and had black-outs. Do you accept you may have been hallucinating?' he asked. 'No,' the girl replied.
One one occasion Mr Shazhad also asked: 'Is it possible you have made these allegations up because you were worried about getting into trouble?' The girl replied: 'No.'
Charlotte Rimmer, prosecuting, asked the girl: 'It has been suggested that none of this happened. What do you say to that?' 'It did happen,' replied the girl. 'Have you got any reason to make this up,' Ms Rimmer asked. 'No,' replied the girl.
Bakatash, of Georgina Court, Bolton, denies all charges.
