A jury at Manchester Crown Court has heard that an asylum seeker repeatedly raped a 16-year-old girl after luring her to a car park in Manchester city centre. Mourad Iyad Marei Salloum, 21, allegedly encountered the teenager minutes earlier when she asked him and a friend for a cigarette, before she followed the pair to fetch a lighter and was attacked. The case has drawn wider attention because Salloum, from Jordan, was living in a Holiday Inn hotel that was itself the site of violent disorder in July 2024 amid unrest that followed the Southport stabbings.

Prosecutors said the teenager, who described herself as "really drunk" after several BuzzBallz drinks, was walking near Piccadilly Gardens in February when she met the two men. She told the court she was repeatedly raped near a parked car while Salloum's accomplice reportedly asked "when is it my turn?" before she managed to flee and alert police. Salloum denies three counts of rape and one of sexual assault, though he has admitted possessing cannabis; his defence disputes CCTV and DNA evidence and suggests the encounter was consensual, while the prosecution says he "deliberately isolated" a vulnerable victim. The trial continues.