This is another trial featuring live updates, so has to be read from the bottom upwards. So like the guide dog refusal trial the other week, but perhaps this more serious case is a bit more worthy of this kind of coverage. Still pretty unusually detailed reporting though.
And trial will last several days, so this is just the first day's worth of evidence.
Live updates as taxi driver goes on trial accused of sex attack on teenage girlhttps://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/tees ... d-16166903Arfan Ali, 28, denies the charge and is to stand trial for the alleged offence from Christmas Eve 2017
Image: Teesside LiveA man accused of a sexual offence against a woman on Christmas Eve 2017 is to stand trial.
Arfan Ali, 28, denied one charge of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without her consent at Teesside Crown Court on September 14 last year.
A three to four-day trial is scheduled to start today.
Ali, of Marton Road, Middlesbrough, had been bailed last year by Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, until the trial.
15:33
Jury sent home for the dayHer evidence has finished and she has been released.
There will be no more live witnesses today and the jury has been released and will return on Wednesday morning.
15:20
How injuries happenedJudge Ashurst asks her about her injuries and whether she has any recollection of how they came about.
She says she does not and that she only became aware of them when she went in the bath the next day.
15:11
'Why would I do that to someone I don’t know?'Mr Gatland says that she then “rubbed his leg with your hand”.
She denies this saying:
"He is a taxi driver, why would I do that to someone I don’t know?"
She says she doesn’t remember saying to him “text me tomorrow” - something Mr Gatland says she did.
15:07
Not in 'a capacity to consent'She says that she now believes she may have been spiked in the bar she was drinking in in Yarm, but agrees he would not have been the person that did this.
Mr Gatland asks her how Ali knew personal bits of information about the woman’s life if she was in no fit state.
She says that she was not in “a capacity to consent” and has no recollection of what was said in the taxi.
15:03
Injuries which you don’t get from sexHe says that at first, the woman “didn’t think anything inappropriate had happened” until speaking with friends.
She denies this saying she had injuries which you don’t get from sex.
14:56
Alleged victim is now giving evidenceThe alleged victim is now giving evidence. Mr Gatland now asks how “aware” she was when in the taxi before she was dropped off.
She says she has “no recollection”.
He asks that at the end of the taxi journey “you asked him for his number and you put it into your phone” she says she has “no recollection of that” and adds:
"He had a job to drop me off at home he didn’t have a job to sexually assault me."
14:52
'Something didn’t feel right'She says that after many messages between them, she then wanted to distance herself away from him.
But before that she says she “can’t remember if it was me or him” that raised the question of meeting up she still wanted to “thank him personally” for “looking after her” and she “couldn’t believe he’d lie” as he “seemed so genuine”.
She then saw scratches on her arms and legs and was “really sore and itchy” and “something didn’t feel right”.
The jury has finished watching the police interview and are now handed photographs of the scratches and bruises that were on the woman.
14:46
Became more waryShe agreed that she “initially thought he had protected” her and was even wanting to thank him in person over a coffee.
But after friends spoke to her she and raised their concerns, she became more wary herself.
14:41
'A lot more serious'The jury hears that after examinations, Ali’s semen was found on the girl’s underwear.
The girl told police in interview that once she hears of what had happened from Ali she initially “laughed it Off” as she was “embarrassed” and that it was a way of not having to deal with it.
But she said that once she “sat down and seriously thought about it, it’s a lot more serious.”
14:24
'No fit state to consent to anything'On December 27 - Ali is alleged to have called the girl after he received a visit from police.
She also says in messages he “promised her” that he “never took advantage” and she thought he was a “genuine lad, and being a nice guy”.
She told police that she also partly “blamed herself” for getting so drunk but maintained she was “in no fit state to consent to anything”.
14:21
She 'recognised him'She said she “recognised him” but was unsure whether that was because he took her home after the night out in Yarm or whether or not it was from a previous taxi journey.
She said that in his messages Ali “seemed so nice” but that her friends called her “naive” for thinking that.
She then became more concerned after finding bruises and scratches.
14:19
Snapchat detailsIn her interview the woman says that she feared she had an STI before seeking advice from NHS Direct.
After messaging Ali she says she also asked for his Facebook details to see if she recognised him.
He instead sent over his Snapchat details and sent a picture of himself to her.
13:59
Bruising and scratch marks.She says that after hearing from Ali she “tried to find the humour” in what he was saying but soon came to realise how serious the situation sounded.
She says she then had “pain” that was a “really uncomfortable feeling”.
She then went in the bath where she found bruising and scratch marks.
13:46
Video of the woman's police interviewVideo of the woman’s police interview is now being shown to the jury.
In the interview the woman states she had drank cider, vodka and sambuca shots and woke up the next day at a relative’s home.
She says she then received a text message from a mobile number that had been saved in her phone.
13:36
Called NHS DirectHe tells the jury she called NHS Direct with concerns and was then told to contact police.
On Boxing Day she went to a police station and explained what happened.
13:24
Scratches and bruisingMr Dodds says that later that day, Ali text her saying “It would be nice to have some fun with you before you go back (to uni).”
She declined but said “thanks for the offer”.
The woman then realised she “had some scratches and bruising, and soreness in her genitalia.”
13:01
Texts exchangedLater that day, the woman received a text from Ali asking if she was ok and that he had “dropped her off”.
He is alleged to have text her:
"You were upset about something and you touched me a few times."
The woman replied and a few messages were exchanged between the two.
At points the woman was texting him saying she was “bad laughing” at what he was saying happened the night before.
12:57
'No recollection'Mr Dodds says:
"The defendant suggests he saw her go into (the address he was given)"
The person who lives here has no recollection of her returning to their home.
12:55
'This case is about what happens in the taxi'Mr Dodds says:
"This case is about what happens in the taxi then. She remembers nothing of it."
The jury hears that the girl woke up the next morning at a relative’s property which is not the address her friend gave Ali.
The woman has no memory of how she got to this house.
12:43
CCTV footage shown to the juryMr Dodds says that the woman “may have had too much to drink”.
CCTV footage is being shown to the jury of the girl being led out of the pub by friends and into Ali’s taxi.
12:42
Friends put her in a taxiShe had been drinking and her “friends were concerned about her conduct”, friends were having to hold the woman up.
Friends then decided to put her in a taxi. Ali was the taxi driver.
The jury is told that the woman’s friend gave an address to Ali.
He then requested she be put in the front seat “in case she was sick.”
12:31
Complainant was teenager at the timeMr Dodds begins by telling the jury Ali is 28 years old.
The woman complainant was a teenager at the time.
She had been socialising with friends in Yarm and had been to a friend’s house before moving on to a pub.
12:26
Ali denies the chargeThe jury has now been sworn in.
Shaun Dodds will be prosecuting the trial.
Glen Gatland will be defending Arfan Ali.
The court hears that the alleged offence of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent dates back to Christmas Eve, 2017.
Ali denies the charge.
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