Grime artist Solo 45 'raped four women' jury told

A "violent and controlling" grime artist falsely imprisoned and raped four women, a court has heard.

Andy Anokye, 31, known as Solo 45, is accused of violently treating, bullying and sexually abusing his victims over a two-year period.

On the first day of his trial at Bristol Crown Court, he was described as a narcissist "who derives satisfaction and sexual pleasure from inflicting pain and suffering".

Mr Anokye denies 31 offences.

Christopher Quinlan QC, prosecuting, told jurors Anokye held the women against their will, physically assaulted and raped them repeatedly.

He said Mr Anokye was a grime artist, describing the genre as "a form of dance music influenced by garage music".

"He was known, or became known, to each of the four women through their knowledge or taste for music of that type," he said.

"They don't know each other," he said.

"Yet we say each of them suffered in similar ways at different times at the hands of this defendant."

Mr Quinlan said the musician would claim anything he did with his accusers was consensual.

But the prosecutor said Mr Anokye put the women in "genuine fear", questioning them "incessantly" about their sexual history.

He said the defendant waterboarded one victim, leaving her "petrified", and claimed he had tapped her phone.

"What turns him on appears to be, at least in part, the tears and sobbing of another," Mr Quinlan told the court.

"He filmed, for posterity, a great deal of what he did," he said.

"We say he is a violent and controlling narcissist, a bully, a sadist who derives satisfaction and sexual pleasure from inflicting pain and suffering on women who we allege are his victims."

On another occasion, the court heard, Mr Anokye drove a woman to a secluded area and ordered her to remove anything that could identify her.

He was said to have told the woman he had people in that area to shoot her - causing her to have a panic attack.

Mr Quinlan claimed the defendant stabbed another woman in her leg and used a knife to strike her head repeatedly.

"He poured bleach in her mouth, he threatened to brand her with a hot iron," he told the jury.

Police seized Mr Anokye's phone and laptop when one of the victims came forward, Mr Quinlan said, leading detectives to contact the other three complainants.

They examined his equipment and discovered searches for the term "dacryphilia".

"Essentially it means sexual arousal from another's fears," Mr Quinlan told the court. "Tears and terror may have given him a sexual thrill."

Jurors were told they would hear evidence from all four victims during the trial, which is expected to last five weeks.

Mr Anokye, of Millennium Promenade, Bristol, denies 31 offences, including 22 counts of rape and five counts of false imprisonment.

He also faces two charges of assault by penetration and two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The trial continues.