‘I was fighting for my life’: Woman could not breathe during alleged rape by man accused of double murder, jury told

A woman was “fighting for her life” as she was pinned to the ground and raped by a convicted sex offender accused of murdering two women, a court heard.

In a tearful police interview played to jurors at the Old Bailey, the woman said she thought she was going to die when her attacker put his hands around her mouth and neck and stuck his fingers in her mouth.

Simon Levy, 40, denies raping, assaulting and strangling the woman, who cannot be named, in a B&M car park in Tottenham, north London, in January 2025.

He is also accused of killing 53-year-old Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March 2025 and 39-year-old Sheryl Wilkins five months later in August. Ms. Wilkins’ body was found in the parking lot where the woman said she had been raped.

In an interview with police at the Old Bailey hearing, the woman wiped away tears as she described being attacked, adding: “I never thought this man could be this bad.”

She told police that she had a drug habit and was doing sex work in the evenings, when she saw a man near the bus stop and offered her a job.

She told police she asked if there were cameras in the parking lot before going there to have sex. But when they arrived and she asked him for the money, he said the man put his hand around her neck and broke her collarbone before pinning her to the ground with his “full weight”.

He continued: “From then on I think my collarbone was broken, so my shoulder was broken.

“I hit my head on the ground and felt a little dizzy. He put his arms around my face. I couldn’t believe it. I was kicking my legs and fighting as I lay under him. I was fighting for my life.”

The woman, who said she put her finger in her throat to keep from making a sound, added: “I believe I was going to die. I couldn’t breathe, I just couldn’t breathe.”

He told police he would never forget the smell of his “salty” hands.

The woman said she managed to roll onto her stomach before he sexually assaulted her. The court heard the woman said during the incident: “Shut up and be quiet, I’ve got you” before losing consciousness. When he woke up, he said his body “hurted” and he was bleeding.

The court was told the woman identified Levy at the identification ceremony.

Levy is accused of killing two other women during sexual encounters in March and August last year.

The defendant, of Beaufoy Road in Tottenham, north London, has pleaded not guilty to the murders of two women. He also denied two charges of rape, grievous bodily harm with intent and non-fatal strangulation against the surviving woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

The prosecution told the court on Monday that Levy had previously been convicted of sexual assault.

Jurors heard he was found guilty of two sexual assaults in 2018 and more recently of 11 sexual assaults following a trial in February this year.

The Old Bailey trial continues.