Czech, 48, denies series of Sheffield sex attacks

Kajus Scuka, 48, is charged with attacking four women over two months in 2010, and Sheffield Crown Court heard each attack took place within a two-mile radius of the city’s Meadowhall shopping centre.

A jury was told Scuka had grabbed one of his victims from behind and accosted two other women, one as she walked in a park and another on a riverside path, and offered money to have sex with him.

Prosecuting barrister Mike Smith told the court the first incident had happened in March 2010 in the Sheffield Lane Top area, as a woman was walking home with one of her grandchildren in a pushchair.

Mr Smith said Scuka had approached the woman, who was in her late-40s, from behind and put his hand between her legs while making “sexual grunting noises”.

The court heard the woman turned around and swore at Scuka, who then fled the scene. She did not, however, report her ordeal until police knocked on her door to make house-to-house inquiries about a similar crime.

Mr Smith told the court the second attack had happened on April 14, 2010, when a young woman in her early 20s had been approached by Scuka as she walked along a riverside path close to Meadowhall.

Giving evidence, the victim said she saw a man behind her, who approached and appeared to be asking directions but then he grabbed her and started pushing her into nearby undergrowth.

The victim, who said she managed to fight her attacker off and escape, told the court: “He said ‘I give you 30 quid’. At first I thought he was going to mug me but then I realised he wasn’t after money.”

Scuka’s third alleged victim was attacked as she walked her dog on playing fields in the Wincobank area of Sheffield later on April 14, less than a mile from the scene of the riverside attack.

The jury was told the woman, who was in her mid-50s, was pushed to the ground by Scuka, who ripped off her boots, trousers and underwear, before raping her and then fleeing the scene.

Just over a month later, Mr Smith said, on May 17, a student was targeted as she walked through a park in the Firth Park area.

She was grabbed by a man who said to her “Let’s have sex” but she managed to break free and call police.

Scuka was found close to the scene of the attack and was arrested as he matched her description.

Mr Smith said the defendant was identified by two of his victims in identification parades, but forensic evidence had also linked him with the rape case and the final assault in May. The prosecutor said Scuka’s DNA had been found on the rape victim, while fibres from a hooded top he was alleged to have been wearing at the time of the May attack were found on his victim’s coat.

Scuka, who had been living at an address in Hinde Road, Grimesthorpe, Sheffield before he was arrested, needed the assistance of a Czech interpreter in court. He denies all charges.

The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.