THE taxi operator accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in Manchester recently is to face an identification parade this week.

Superintendent Lascelles Taylor, head of the Manchester Police Division, said investigators from the Centre of Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse have questioned the accused and were now moving to place him in front of an ID parade.

The taxi operator was arrested last Thursday after reports were made to the police that he allegedly molested the child while he was taking her home from school. The child, the police said, alerted her parents and investigations led to the arrest of the man.

The Manchester police, meanwhile, have intensified their investigations into the alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl at Downs district in the parish last Sunday.

Police reported that the teenager was held up by an armed man, who allegedly dragged her into bushes and raped her. A male relative who was walking with her was not harmed, the police said.