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Mourad Iyad Marei Salloum, a 20-year-old Jordanian asylum seeker, denies raping and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl after allegedly luring her to a car park near Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre on February 28. Prosecutors claim DNA evidence found on the victim is "one billion times more likely" to belong to Salloum. The trial at Manchester Crown Court continues, with Salloum maintaining his innocence and disputing key aspects of the prosecution's case, including CCTV footage that allegedly shows him entering the car park.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-17,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Mourad Iyad Marei Salloum, a 21-year-old asylum seeker from Jordan, has been accused of repeatedly raping a 16-year-old girl in Manchester city centre. The alleged incident occurred in February this year when the teenager was walking near Piccadilly Gardens and stopped to ask two men for a cigarette. She followed one of them, identified as Salloum, to a nearby car park where she allegedly faced the attack. Salloum denies the charges, arguing that CCTV footage does not show him entering the car park and disputing how his DNA ended up on the victim's neck. His defense claims the teenager told him she was 'attracted' to him and even asked if she could go home with them because she lacked money for a taxi. The case is ongoing at Manchester Crown Court.
Written for “Asylum Seeker Rape Trial” on 2026-09-17,
grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 14377 · logged 2026-09-17
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An asylum seeker has denied repeatedly raping a 16-year-old after allegedly luring her into a city centre car park.
Mourad Iyad Marei Salloum, 20, is accused of carrying out the attack after randomly meeting the teenager just minutes earlier when she stopped to ask him and a friend for a cigarette.
Salloum, originally from Jordan, is on trial at Manchester Crown Court and denies three counts of rape and one of sexual assault.
uncertain
Salloum → see → assault
Giving evidence through an interpreter, he admitted meeting a girl on the night of February 28, this year, after travelling to the Piccadilly Gardens area of Manchester city centre to meet friends.
asserted
he → give → friends
She asked one friend for a cigarette, Salloum said, before telling him she was 'very attracted' to his looks and personality.
asserted
she → ask → looks
Salloum then claimed the girl, who told him she was almost 19, then 'hugged' and kissed him on the lips and he responded by kissing her on the neck.
asserted
he → claim → neck
He alleges she then asked if she could 'go home' with him and his friend because she 'didn't have enough money to get home'.
uncertain
she → allege → money
But they refused, telling her they were staying at a 'Home Office hotel'.
asserted
they → refuse → hotel
Manchester Crown Court (pictured) where 20-year-old Mourad Iyad Marei Salloum and denies three counts of rape and one of sexual assault
The girl had also asked for £20 for taxi home, he said.
Salloum told the jury he eventually left the girl and later travelled to the Rusholme part of the city and he denied going to any car park.
asserted
he → picture → park
Asked by Barry Grennan, defending, if he'd raped her, he replied: 'No, never.'
asserted
he → ask → her
The jury was told that DNA found on the 'vulnerable' teenager's neck and jogging bottoms is 'one billion times more likely' to belong to him rather than an unknown male.
asserted
DNA → tell → male
They previously heard how the girl had gone into the city centre that evening to meet friends.
asserted
girl → hear → friends
She became separated from them and felt 'really drunk' after drinking four Buzzballz drinks.
asserted
She → become → drinks
As she walked near Piccadilly Gardens, she recalled meeting two men, one of them allegedly Salloum, and asking them for a cigarette.
uncertain
one → walk → cigarette
She was handed one but when she asked for a light she was told they would need to fetch a lighter from a nearby car park.
asserted
they → hand → park
CCTV allegedly shows the teenager following the two men to the car park, where she was allegedly raped multiple times.
uncertain
she → show → park
The jury heard how the attack stopped only when the defendant's friend interrupted him before asking: 'When is it my turn?'
asserted
it → hear → him
The teenager claims her attacker kissed her twice - first on her mouth and then on her neck - and the second kiss was with such force it caused a 'love-bite', enabling DNA evidence to be gathered.
The prosecution claim attempts were made to get the teenager to go to a nearby hotel, but she was able to flee and speak to passers-by before alerting police.
uncertain
she → claim → police
Salloum has denied that CCTV images show him entering the car park, claiming it is a different man in the footage.
He also disputes that the teenager appears in the footage.
asserted
teenager → deny → footage
The trial continues.
asserted
trial → continue → ?
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