A COURT had heard that a man accused of sexual assault allegedly named infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer as ‘his hero’.

Michel Yanni, of Recreation Road, Reading, is currently on trial for one count of ‘sexual assault’ and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The 44-year-old has been charged with these offences against a woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, which are alleged to have happened on February 24, 2020, and February 26, 2020 respectively.

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At Reading Crown Court on Monday (February 27), the woman gave evidence against Yanni over a video link.

She claims that Yanni sexually abused her as well as slicing her arms with a razor.

During her evidence, she told the jury that Yanni had named cannibal and sex offender, Dahmer, as his ‘hero’.

She said: “We were watching [a Jeffrey Dahmer documentary] and he said [Dahmer] was his hero, that’s just what [Yanni] is like.”

Dahmer is an American murderer who killed and dismembered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991.

The killer, from Milwaukee, was sentenced to life imprisonment but was killed by an inmate in 1994.

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Prosecuting, Isabel Delamere told the jury that Yanni had been ‘abusive’ towards the woman before the incidents in February 2020.

She said the woman had described Yanni as ‘shoving her around’ and getting ‘wickeder and wickeder’.

Speaking about the count of sexual assault, the woman said: “He…grabbed me… he had hold of my head and just wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

The woman continued to address the jury on the second count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm with a razor.

“He just lost it,” he said. “He just grabbed hold of me and just swiped it [the razor]. I just thought he was going to kill me.”

The court heard that police arrested Yanni on suspicion of assault at 6.12am on February 26, 2020. He was cautioned to which he made numerous comments. He stated that the woman had injured herself, stating she was ‘mental’.

He denied the accusations of sexual assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Defending Yanni, Francis McGrath asked the woman during cross-examination whether she had caused the injuries to herself.

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However, the woman denied these claims.

The trial, which is being presided over by Judge Hassan Khan, continues this week.