Nicholas Rossi: Fugitive who fled to Scotland goes on trial for rape in Utah

Nicholas Rossi, a fugitive who had to be extradited from Scotland, has gone on trial for rape in Utah.

Rossi is accused of raping a woman he was engaged to in November 2008 in the US state.

He also faces a separate allegation of rape in neighbouring Salt Lake County in 2008.

The 37-year-old denies all charges.

The trial comes after he was extradited to the US from Scotland in January 2024 following a lengthy case in the Scottish courts.

During his time in Scotland, he used the alias Arthur Knight after receiving “credible threats”.

Rossi appeared in court before Judge Barry Lawrence in Salt Lake County on Monday and confirmed his name as Nicholas Alahverdian.

During opening statements, the jury heard how Rossi had met his alleged victim online and became engaged two weeks later.

The court was told that the prosecution and defence agree that Nicholas Alahverdian is the same person identified as Nicholas Rossi, that he was in Utah in 2008, and that he had a relationship with the complainant at this time.

The victim told the court she was living with her parents, recovering from a car accident which had left her with a traumatic brain injury, when she met Rossi online.

She described Rossi as “very charming” but claimed he became controlling and was “constantly borrowing money” from her.

“He started to become very controlling and dictated how I dressed,” she said.

The victim recalled trying to end the relationship and claimed Rossi flew into a rage that forced her to lock herself in her car.

“It was the first time I’d ever seen rage in his eyes. I don’t remember what he was yelling. He was hitting the car. I was just sitting there, hoping he would stop,” she said.

She told the court that it was the middle of winter, so she agreed to drive him home.

She recalled how he pretended he had called the police en route and kept her in the car for an hour waiting for officers to arrive before they went into his apartment.

The woman started to cry as she described how, once inside, he raped her.

She said: “I was numb and scared. I didn’t know what else he was capable of because if someone was capable of that, what else was he capable of?“

The woman said she got dressed and left, and on the drive home, she decided never to see him again. The court was told in the days that followed that she changed her phone number, but he continued to email her.

When asked why she didn’t go to the police, she became upset.

“No, because I went to my parents and they didn’t help me. They didn’t listen,” she said.

The woman contacted the district attorney’s office 13 years after the alleged attack, after seeing an article online about a case in Utah County involving Rossi.

The prosecution told the jury that they would also hear evidence from another woman from Utah County who briefly dated Rossi and claimed he raped her in 2008.

Who is Nicholas Rossi?

The court will also hear evidence that police located Nicholas Alahverdian in Bristol in 2020, where he was calling himself Arthur Knight.

In July 2022, charges were filed in Utah, and he denied being Nicholas Rossi and Nicholas Alahverdian. He spoke in a British accent and insisted he was Arthur Knight.

Finally, in 2024, the jury heard that he agreed that he is Nicholas Rossi.

The prosecutor told the jury: “Listen carefully to the evidence throughout this trial. We will ask you to find the defendant guilty of rape.”

The defence compared the case to an “old puzzle found in a thrift shop”, as there are “missing pieces” and there will not be “a complete picture”.

The trial continues.