A Sri Lankan hotel migrant abducted and raped a teenage girl before attempting to flee the country with her, a court has heard. Yashin Himasara, 21, has been charged with grooming the 15-year-old victim before assaulting her in his hotel room in Feltham, west London, last October.
Details of the alleged crimes
Himasara allegedly kidnapped the girl and intended to take her to mainland Europe, the court was told. However, a member of the public discovered the victim at a service station in Kent and immediately alerted authorities. Himasara had been residing at the three-star St Giles Hotel in Feltham, which the government uses to accommodate asylum seekers.
He appeared at Isleworth Crown Court for the first day of his trial, assisted by a Sinhala interpreter. Himasara previously denied one count of kidnapping, one count of rape, one count of assault by penetration, and one count of assault by beating. He also denied one count of sexual activity with a child and two counts of intentional strangulation.
Prosecution's account
Prosecutor Oliver Wellings stated that Himasara was 20 years old at the time of the alleged offences in 2025, while the complainant was and remains 15 years old. He informed the court that the girl was found in 'disturbing circumstances' by a member of the public on November 2, 2025.
Mr Wellings said: 'She was found on the floor of a toilet in a service station miles away from her residence in Medway in Kent, in distraught condition, very upset. The member of the public that found her raised the alarm, she was worried by what she saw.'
When interviewed, the victim described to police what had happened in the days leading up to her discovery at the service station. 'She described coming to know the defendant at the hotel she was staying, alternatively at times charming and seductive towards her and then also threatening and violent, a pattern of behaviour that amounted to grooming over a period of days and weeks leading up to 2 November,' the prosecutor added.
'He subjected her to sexual abuse and ultimately to oral rape before removing her from the hotel accommodation. The crown's case is he was in the process of trying to remove her from the country to mainland Europe when he was apprehended by a member of the public and ultimately the police.'
Sequence of events
Days before the kidnapping on October 25, the court heard Himasara had touched the 15-year-old sexually. Then on October 31, he raped and sexually assaulted the girl in his hotel room and strangled her, jurors were told. He was also seen by members of the public beating her on November 2 at the service station.
The victim reported the incidents to police, leading to Himasara's arrest on November 5. Footage of her police interview was played in court, in which she described how Himasara told her they would run away to the Netherlands together and get married.
Himasara denies all charges: rape, sexual activity with a child, two counts of intentional strangulation, assault by penetration, assault by beating, and kidnapping. The trial continues.
