Jurors at the Old Bailey heard that Natalie Shotter was “deeply unconscious” when she was raped on a park bench on which she subsequently died in Southall Park, west London
A court has heard that a stranger who was “seeking out a vulnerable woman” repeatedly raped an NHS nurse until she died of a heart attack.
After enjoying herself on a night out in 2021, 37-year-old Natalie Shotter was sexually assaulted and killed while unconscious on a park bench. When a trial began this week, Mohamed Iidow, 35, was on trial for her alleged rape and manslaughter. Her body was found the morning after on July 17.
Friday, Alison Morgan KC, the prosecutor, told the jurors that Ms. Shotter had died of a heart attack because Iidow had raped her “again and again” on the bench in Southall Park, west London, where she had previously been sitting with another man. The nurse and the other unidentified man are captured on CCTV sitting on a bench as Iidow walks by prior to the alleged assault.
Jurors were told that he left the park, got in his car, and returned with Ms. Shotter lying down and showing “no clear movement” for about 30 minutes before the defendant approached her “nonchalantly,” according to Ms. Morgan. She stated that the victim had been “deeply unconscious” during the alleged assault.
According to the prosecutor, What was the defendant doing and attempting to do there, walking up and down the paths in the middle of the night and considering what his goals must have been: finding a vulnerable woman to rape? The prosecution presented CCTV footage to the jury, in which it was claimed that the defendant could be seen repositioning Ms. Shotter’s body as he raped her.
Ms. Morgan stated to the jurors: The prosecution contends that this defendant’s actions contributed to Natalie’s death. You should keep in mind that the defendant went to the park for a reason, even though she was not dead at the time of the oral rape.
He was having sex with someone he knew was alive but was deeply unconscious, so he was raping her, and he would not have sought to have sex with a dead body for more than 15 minutes. Jurors were told that the defendant drove back to his home in Hounslow, west London, after the alleged attack, stopping at a Shell garage to buy cat food and mouthwash.
The court heard that DNA samples taken from the defendant were found to match swabs taken from Ms. Shotter’s mouth area. The charges against Iidow have been refuted, and the trial has been postponed until Monday.