Woman feared she would die in attack, court hears

A woman has told a court she thought she was going to die when she was allegedly violently raped by a man who has been charged with murdering two other women.

Simon Levy, 40, is accused of the attack in Tottenham in January last year, months before he allegedly killed Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 54, and Sheryl Wilkins, 39.

Levy denies two counts of murder and two charges of rape, grievous bodily harm with intent and non-fatal suffocation against the surviving woman.

Jurors at the Old Bailey were shown footage of the tearful woman during a police interview telling officers: "I would not think this man would be so evil. I believed I was going to die. I couldn't believe it."

Warning: This article contains details that some readers may find distressing

The woman, who remains anonymous for legal reasons, said she had been doing sex work in the evenings when she saw a man she recognised from the area.

The prosecution told the jury she had been trafficked to the UK and "lives and still lives a haphazard life", adding that she had sometimes used sex work to fund drug use.

Describing the encounter, she said: "There was this black man standing and he was holding a few £10 notes in his hands and, because I knew his face from previous years – I used to live near his address – he said 'hello' to me.

"I replied, 'hello'. I offered him business – sex in exchange for money. He said, 'yeah, come, come, come'."

The pair then went to a B&M car park where he then became aggressive after being asked for the money upfront.

"I asked, 'can I have the money, please?' He said, 'what money?'"

She told the court he then put his hand on her neck, swung his arm and jumped on her with "all his weight".

The woman suffered a broken shoulder and hit her head on the ground, leaving her dizzy.

She added that he put his arms over her face as she struggled underneath him before he sexually assaulted her while covering her mouth and nose.

The woman said she lost consciousness and later woke up in pain and bleeding.

"I will never forget the smell of his hands - salty, smelly."

She also told officers in the video shown to the court that she would "never forget his... face".

After the attack, she said she told a friend and warned other sex workers in the area before reporting it to police four days later.

She had later identified Levy in an identification parade.

Defending counsel Siobhan Grey KC suggested the woman had fabricated the allegation to avoid being taken into police custody - which she denies.

She had been arrested on 25 January for breaching a community order but told officers she needed hospital treatment for her injuries.

Grey also suggested the woman had a drug habit costing £150 a day.

"Because I was homeless," the woman said, adding that she is now on medication.

Prosecutors told the court that Levy had previous convictions for sexual offences, including two sexual assaults that were committed in 2018 and, more recently, 11 counts of sexual assault following a trial in February this year.

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