Overview
- Mr Bakatash, 29, gave live evidence this week and denied five charges including two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault.
- Prosecutors say the two victims were both 14 in December 2025 and were heavily intoxicated after being given vodka at his Georgina Court flat, leaving them unable to consent.
- In court he said he had never drunk alcohol before, took a sip that made him feel sick, became 'uncontrollably sleepy' and told jurors 'I think Satan took over me' when he drank.
- He also told the jury he came to the UK from Afghanistan in 2022, had worked with the British military for years, met one girl months earlier and believed she had said she was older.
- The trial before Judge Kendrick Horne continues with jurors due to decide disputed facts about ages, intoxication, who supplied the alcohol and the credibility of competing accounts.