A man accused of faking his own death and fleeing the United States to avoid rape charges has met his alleged victim in court as his trial begins in Utah.
The man, known in the US as Nicholas Rossi, whose real name is Nicholas Alahverdian, is accused of sexually assaulting two women in Utah in 2008.
Prosecutors are trying the cases separately, with the first one being tried in Salt Lake County.
Rossi, 38, was extradited from Scotland to the US in January 2024 after protracted proceedings in Scottish courts.
He was spotted by law enforcement when he was identified at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow in December 2021, where he was being treated for COVID-19 under the name Arthur Knight.
He was arrested after his distinctive tattoos identified him as the man US authorities were seeking to extradite, but he claimed there had been a case of mistaken identity.
Months of legal proceedings in Edinburgh followed, but in November 2022 Sheriff Norman Macfadyen ruled that the man posing as Knight was indeed Rossi.
The extradition hearing took place in June 2023 and Sheriff Macfadyen decided there was no obstacle to Rossi's extradition.
During the hearings in Scotland, Rossi appeared in a wheelchair, sometimes using an oxygen mask.
The extradition order was signed in September 2023, and Rossi was finally sent to the United States in January 2024.
Prosecutors say they have identified at least a dozen aliases Rossi used over the years to evade arrest.
Rossi appeared in court on Monday in a wheelchair, wearing a suit and tie and using oxygen.
The alleged victim identified him during her testimony, noting that he was “a little fatter, a little older,” but otherwise looked the same.
District Judge Barry Lawrence helped clarify some aspects of the case for jurors, explaining that different people may call Rossi different things.
The defense and prosecution agreed that Rossi was in Utah in 2008 and had a relationship with the alleged victim that year.
Prosecutors described him as intelligent
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
