Jury shown CCTV moment taxi driver appeared to follow Leeds rape victim
A jury has been shown CCTV footage of the moment a taxi driver charged with rape appeared to follow his alleged victim who was making her way home after a night out.
Daniel Hayelom is on trial at Leeds Crown Court, accused of taking advantage of the intoxicated female in an alleyway in Beeston in the early hours.
He is accused of firstly sexually assaulting the woman, and then leading her into an alleyway off Tunstall Road where he is accused of raping her.
The 36-year-old is also charged with two counts of sexual assault and assault by penetration.
Hayelom, of Clyde Approach, New Wortley, later claimed it was consensual but the Crown maintain that the woman was too intoxicated to give consent.
The woman had been at a friend’s house party on October 21, 2023, and left at around 6am the next morning, walking along Dewsbury Road.
Footage played to the jury showed the woman stumbling along the road near to the junction with Garnet Road at around 6.15am.
Hayelom, who had finished his shift, was seen to turn into Garnet Road but then stop as the woman crossed the road behind him and continue down Dewsbury Road.
The taxi then turned around and drove past the woman, before returning moments later and waiting nearby as she first stopped outside a shop to look at her phone, then sat at the bus stop next to the United Reformed Church.
When she started walking again, Hayelom drove past her on Dewsbury Road and then parked up near the junction with Camberley Street, got out and began walking back towards her.
The footage shows she was clearly intoxicated and unsteady on her feet, with Hayelom walking towards her near to the Sheikh General Store with his arms outstretched in an apparent playful manner.
Hugging her and then kissing her, she then began to walk off. Audio from the CCTV picks up Hayelom saying “I need more”.
Dressed in jeans and white trainers, he is shown to catch up with her again and then kiss her. The footage also clearly shows him placing his hands into her clothing.
He walked with her as they turned off Dewsbury Road and along Tunstall Road. They then walked into the alleyway down the side of Poundland and Aldi where it was alleged Hayelom raped her.
Footage then showed him returning to his vehicle minutes later without the woman.
Following his arrest, Hayelom claimed he thought he knew the woman when he first saw her, but prosecutor Michael Smith told the jury on the opening day of the trial that they were not known to each other.
The trial continues.