Abdelkader El-Janabi and Alex Wilson-Fletcher were today sentenced to 15 years imprisonment at Manchester Crown Court following a sex attack on a teenage boy last year.
Both men were convicted of two offences of rape and one of sexual touching of a boy aged 14 during a nine day trial in April.
The assault took place on 2 June 2012 on a busy Saturday afternoon in the city centre. The 14-year-old victim was in the Arndale centre toilets where he was approached by a man, now known to be El-Janabi, who started to stare at him.
Another man, now known to be Wilson-Fletcher, then entered the toilets and El-Janabi grabbed hold of the boy’s arm and walked him out the Arndale centre and across the road into Debenhams. The men then took the boy into the male toilets upstairs where he was raped and sexually assaulted.
Both men were eventually tracked down after images from CCTV were circulated around the UK by police.
During the trial the court heard how El-Janabi knew the Debenhams toilets well and had been caught loitering there in the past by shop staff who had previously ejected him from the store.
The court was told that El-Janabi was the one who physically raped the teenager but Wilson-Fletcher was convicted of taking part in a joint enterprise by the jury. Judge Leeming told Wilson-Fletcher he was “at least a look-out’ and encouraged Mr El-Janabi.
Whilst sentencing them, Judge Michael Leeming QC told both men “In all probability, what you did to him in his formative years will stay with him. Neither of you thought of that at the time. You were more concerned with your own sexual gratification.”
Both men have denied attacking the boy and the judge said the men had shown no sign of remorse or empathy over what they had done.
At Farleys we have an abuse department specialising in helping people who have been the victims of abuse or rape. To talk to a member of our team about how you could make a claim for abuse at no cost to you, please do not hesitate to get in contact.