A man accused of offences against five different women began to give evidence in the Royal Court this morning.
Abdelkarim Arfaoui (27) told jurors that he had been lost and “very drunk” the morning that the attacks are alleged to have taken place.
He denies ten charges including attempted rape and five counts of sexual touching without consent. All of them are alleged to have happened on town streets, in the space of an hour-and-a-half on the same morning.
Addressing the court this morning, Mr Arfaoui said that he had moved to Jersey only six months before, and had only recently moved into his flat.
Born in Tunisia, he described how he had recently got married at the time of the incidents and how he had only started drinking after he moved to Jersey and was out of work.
Advocate Greg Herold-Howes, defending, asked him: “How well do you know St Helier?”
Mr Arfaoui said: “Not very well.”
Recently employed as a care assistant, Mr Arfaoui said he had been on a night out after he had received his first paycheck.
On a scale of 1 to 10, he said his drunkenness was a 7.5, becoming a 9 by the early hours of the morning – when the allegations took place.
The trial continues. Commissioner Alan Binnington is presiding.
