Libyan soldiers accused of raping drunk man 'acted like hunting dogs'
A UK jury has been told two Libyan soldiers acted like 'hunting dogs' when they scoured a city centre for security cameras before raping an intoxicated man.
Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud, 33, and Ibrahim Abugtila, 23, took it in turns to hold down their alleged victim and rape him, a Cambridge court has heard.
The alleged victim, a young British man whom the pair did not know, had consumed a 'formidable amount of alcohol' on the night he was attacked.
The pair, who were training in the UK as part of an agreement to help war-torn Libya, were caught on CCTV searching for cameras in the city of Cambridge before the alleged rape.
Three clips of chilling security vision were released by Cambridgeshire Police and shown to the court.
Prosecutor John Farmer told the jury that the footage showed the pair 'circling the area to look for security cameras' before finding a complete stranger to attack.
The alleged rape took place on October 26 at 3.26am.
"He (the victim) was in no fit state way one way or another to consent. They behaved like two hunting dogs who had seen a wounded animal," Mr Farmer said.
In a recorded interview, the alleged victim reportedly told police he was 'blind drunk' and could only remember parts of his night out.
A breath test revealed he was three times the legal drink-drive limit.
The man told officers during interviews that he was dragged into a side street where he was raped.
"They put their hands over my mouth and got me on the ground. They took my trousers down and tried (to rape me)," the alleged victim was quoted as saying.
The man claimed one of his attackers held him face down with colossal force while the other raped him.
One of the attackers smothered his mouth so he could not scream, the man claimed.
Mahmoud and Abugtila, who have been undergoing training at Bassingbourn Barracks, are both charged with one count of rape, one count of aiding and abetting rape and a third charge each of attempted rape against the same victim.
They deny the charges.
Three other soldiers were reportedly arrested at the same time in connection with unrelated sex offences and are awaiting sentencing after confessing to the crimes.
The UK agreed to put 2000 Libyan soldiers through basic infantry and training in an attempted to help the war-ravaged nation after the 2011 collapse of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
The UK's Ministry of Defence has been forced to cut short their contract and send back 300 cadets after concerns over their conduct.
The trial continues.
