Asif Vali denies all the charges he faces
The former manager of boxer Amir Khan has gone on trial accused of sexually assaulting a woman. Asif Vali, who a jury heard used to manage the Bolton-based former champion boxer, denies all the charges he faces.
The jury was told he also sent the woman ‘inappropriate’ text messages, including one about the size of her knickers, and performed sex acts on himself in front of her.
Opening the case to a jury at Bolton Crown Court, prosecutor Huw Edwards said the case was ‘about allegations made by her against Mr Vali of a sexual nature’. The prosecutor said that in the summer of 2012, Mr Vali began ‘showing a sexual interest in her’ and started sending her ‘inappropriate’ text messages.
The jury was told that on one alleged occasion, when Mr Vali was in America, he sent her a text message asking her what size of knickers she would like him to buy and bring back for her. Mr Edwards said she told him she didn’t want any.
The jury was told ‘sexual behaviour’ on Mr Vali’s part towards her continued and ‘got worse as time went on’. Mr Edwards told the jury Mr Vali ‘started getting too close to her and touching her in ways she says were inappropriate’. “He continued progressing that sexual behaviour,” he told the jury.
Mr Edwards said the woman told Mr Vali that he was being ‘inappropriate’ and the jury was told that she grew to be ‘frightened by him’. Mr Edwards said Mr Vali performed sexual acts on himself in front of her.
The jury was also told of an allegation of assault by penetration in February, 2013, in Bolton. Mr Edwards said Mr Vali ‘said something to her about giving him what he deserved’ when she was alone.
He’s then alleged to have grabbed her leg and pulled him towards her as she sat on a chair, causing her to fall to the floor, the jury was told. Mr Vali, the court heard, was on top of her, but she tried to fight him off. He’s then said to have pulled down her trousers and underwear.
Mr Edwards said the woman managed to knock over a cup of coffee, which caused him to jump up after it spilled onto them both. She then left the room, jurors were told. Mr Edwards said: “It is a fact that she did not report these offences to the police until much later, in fact in 2019. But she did tell a number of people over the course of years what she says happened to her.”
The jury was told the woman confided in her GP 11 days later, and went on to tell a family member and a counsellor. She was video-interviewed by police in December, 2019, the jury heard, and in her interview with officers, named Mr Vali as boxer Mr Khan’s former manager.
Mr Vali, of Hill Cot Road, Bolton, denied to police all the allegations the woman made and said he hadn’t had any sexual contact with her, the court heard. He denies two counts of exposure, two counts of sexual assault and a count of assault by penetration. The woman cannot be named for legal reasons.
The trial, before the Recorder of Bolton, Judge Nicholas Clarke KC, continues.
