Sobbing woman ‘raped by two men in an alley while third kept watch outside’

Two men raped a drunken, sobbing woman in an alleyway while a third kept watch outside, a court has heard.

The trio then reportedly fist-bumped eachother as they walked away from the scene.

Brian Jalo, 25, and Juan Quinones, 24, have admitted having sex with the woman but claimed that it was consensual. Both men and their alleged look-out, Justice Tandoh, 21, deny rape.

During a trial at Manchester Crown Court, prosecutor Robert Wynn-Jones told the jury how the alleged victim was attacked during a weekend shopping trip to Manchester in May 2021.

The young woman had come to Manchester with a female friend, and were approached by Jalo and Quinones while sitting on a bench outside their city centre hotel.

After striking up a conversation with the pair, she accepted a ‘friend request’ from Mr Jalo on Instagram so the pair were able to message each other.

The following day the young woman and her friend went shopping, had lunch and then went out drinking, during which the woman was said to have consumed half-a-litre of vodka with 7Up.

The pair returned to their hotel at 7pm, when a receptionist noted they were ‘heavily intoxicated’ and had reportedly fallen out following an argument,the court was told.

About 45 minutes later the woman’s friend was said to have told the receptionist that the woman had left the hotel and went to Piccadilly Gardens after receiving a message from Mr Jalo.

‘She was intoxicated and the prosecution say there is a clear inference that they had formed the intention to get her alone in that state and commit the acts of rape and sexual assault upon her,’ said Mr Wynn-Jones.

The jurors were told how the defendants lured the victim down an alleyway, and were captured on CCTV ‘chatting’ with her beside the fire exit of a building while she was ‘clearly drunk’ and ‘unsteady on her feet’.

Mr Wynn-Jones said the footage showed Jalo attempting to put his hands down the woman’s trousers before pulling them down.

The victim claimed Jalo then tried to kiss her, and that he pushed her down to her knees when she tried to back away.

Jalo and Quinones then allegedly carried out sex acts on the woman, the jurors were told.

‘She tells the police that she was crying and saying no,’ said Mr Wynn-Jones. The alleged attack lasted six minutes.

The prosecution also noted that Tandoh could be seen on camera keeping watch by the alleyway entrance, and later stayed with the woman who was ‘visibly distressed’ following the attack.

After the alleged assault, it was said that the three defendants ‘greeted each other with fist-bumps’ as they left the scene.

The woman was then cross-examined by Pat Buckley, on behalf of Jalo.

She said that she messaged Jalo and told him about what she had been up to earlier on in the day. 

The woman said: ‘I asked them repeatedly to stop,’ when Mr Buckley suggested that she had been a ‘willing participant’.

When the woman was questioned by Neil Ronan, on behalf of Tandoh, she said: ‘I was telling him to stop,’ adding that she ‘did not agree’ to be touched by Tandoh.

Jalo and Quinones – who was assisted by a Spanish interpreter – deny three counts of aiding and abetting rape. Tandoh also denied a charge of sexual assault against the alleged victim.

The trial continues.

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