A girl was raped by a stranger who paid her £100 for sex after preying on her in Piccadilly Gardens, prosecutors allege.
Aberham Fekaud, 28, admits having sexual activity with the 14-year-old girl, but claims she told him she was 19.
The girl was out in in the city centre with a friend in the early hours, after deciding not to go home following an argument with her mother, Manchester Crown Court heard.
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The prosecution claim he ‘preyed’ on the girl, offering her somewhere to stay out from the cold weather.
At about 4am Mr Fekaud is said to have approached the pair and asked her friend if she would ‘go with him’.
She said she ‘didn’t like boys’, but pointed at her friend.
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Jurors heard Mr Fekaud asked her how old she was, telling him she was 14.
It is alleged he asked her if she would perform a sex act on him for money.
“He said if they wanted more money they should follow him to his house, and he would give her £100,” prosecutor Camille Morland said.
She said she didn’t want to do, but Mr Fekaud kept on ‘insisting’.
“She didn’t want to, but her friend said ‘it would be better than being outside all night’,” Ms Morland said.
“Perhaps you can well imagine by this time it might well have seemed like the better option.
“The prosecution say that the defendant preyed on that vulnerability and dilemma.”
Mr Fekaud got in a taxi and both girls followed, and they went to his house in Salford which he shared with other people.
In his room, Mr Fekaud is accused of raping the girl twice.
A housemate came into the room and Mr Fekaud stopped, the court heard.
The girls went to sleep and woke up at 8am, and got a bus into the city centre.
Prosecutors say Mr Fekaud gave the girl he is accused of raping £100 as ‘payment’ for the sexual activity.
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Mr Fekaud denies this, and said he actually gave her £20 for breakfast.
The girl spoke to her older sister when she got home, and the police were called.
Mr Fekaud was arrested after semen discovered in a medical examination of the girl was found to be his.
Jurors were told that Mr Fekaud claims it was the girl who suggested they have sex, and that she told him she was 19.
She showed him an ID card to prove it, he says.
He accepted having sexual activity with her at his house but maintains it was consensual.
Mr Fekaud, of Gerald Road, Salford, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child, as well as two counts of rape, and two alternative counts of sexual activity with a child.
Addressing the jury, Mr Fekaud’s barrister Iain Johnstone said: “The defendant accepts that the sexual acts took place between him and the complainant, but he maintains that the complainant told him that she was 19-years-old.
“There was nothing he would say that led him to believe she was anything other than 19, and certainly not 14.
“He also maintains any sexual acts that took place between him and the complainant were with her consent.”
Proceeding .
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