A man whose dismembered body was discovered in a suitcase had previously raped and blackmailed a teenager, a court heard. A witness, using the alias James Smith, gave evidence via video link today at the murder trial of Yostin Mosquera.
Mosquera is charged with the murder of two men – Albert Alfonso, 62, and Paul Longworth, 71. Their remains were found in a suitcase and trunk near Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge in July 2024.
Mosquera, 35, denies both murders but has confessed to the manslaughter of Mr Alfonso.
Mr Smith told jurors about his first encounter with Mr Alfonso nearly two decades ago when he was approximately 17 or 18 years old. He had visited Mr Alfonso’s flat for drinks after meeting at a rugby match.
He told the court he had consumed a large amount of alcohol and woke up with a severe headache, the Mirror reports.
“I asked him, ‘What’s happened?’ – he showed me a video of me on all fours and he was penetrating me,” he disclosed to the court. “I didn’t know what to do. I was horrified. At this point, I was unsure about my sexuality – I was confused and frightened. Being a black boy in London, gay, whether you were drunk or not – it didn’t matter.”
He then said that Mr Alfonso told him: “Don’t worry, I’m not going to show anyone,” but suggested that if he did “favours”, the video would never be circulated. During cross-examination, defence barrister Tom Little KC asked: “Does it cross your mind, looking back, that you were raped?”
“Now, yes,” Mr Smith replied when asked if he considered the possibility of his drink being spiked. The barrister probed further, “And does it cross your mind that you were groomed by Albert Alfonso?” to which Mr Smith replied: “Now, yes.”
In court, it emerged that Mr Alfonso had expressed an interest in “black dominatrix” fantasies and detailed fetishes involving “master-slave” dynamics.
The pair began to meet regularly, with Mr Alfonso compensating Mr Smith approximately £150 per sexual encounter. These sessions evolved into a routine of consensual acts including domination.
Mr Smith told the jury how both he and Mr Alfonso wore masks during their encounters and that he would sometimes reach out to Mr Alfonso when in need of money.
As the Covid pandemic hit, Mr Smith’s relationship with Mr Alfonso deepened, and he also started spending time with Mr Longworth.
He told the court that they would take bike rides together and that he occasionally received financial support from them.
Mr Smith was later introduced to Mosquera, whom Mr Alfonso described as a young Colombian man staying with them while studying at Ealing College.
According to Mr Smith, Mr Alfonso was covering Mosquera’s travel and college expenses. Mosquera confided in him that he had a family back in Colombia and was “just doing it for the money”.
“I asked if he was gay or straight – he said he was just doing it for the money. I said, ‘Great – so was I’,” Mr Smith said in court. He added that the trio had engaged in a sex session together the week prior to the deaths.
Describing the relationship between Mosquera and Mr Alfonso, the witness said: “Good – very good. He was going to London with him, sightseeing, he seemed fun. I didn’t see anything that seemed like they disliked each other.”
Speaking about Mr Longworth, he added: “He wouldn’t hurt a fly. After the sessions he would come and sit with us and talk with us.”
Mr Smith described the final time he saw them, on a Friday evening before the bodies were discovered. “Albert gave me a hug, Paul gave me a hug, and that was the last I heard of those two,” he said.
The trial continues.
