An asylum seeker who pretended to be a teenager on social media and raped a 13-year-old girl has been sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. Abdul Khan, believed to be 28, arrived in the UK hidden in the back of a lorry in 2015, Nottingham Crown Court heard. He faces automatic deportation to Afghanistan after serving two thirds of his sentence.
Crimes and sentencing
Khan, currently at HMP Nottingham, was already serving a 23-month sentence for sexual communication with another child. Last week, jurors found him guilty of two counts of rape, sexual activity with a child, sexual communication with a child, meeting a child following grooming, and perverting the course of justice.
The four-day trial heard how Khan communicated with his victim on Snapchat, pretending to be a 14-year-old boy, before meeting her at a nature reserve in Clifton, Nottingham. After an initial encounter that jurors deemed consensual, Khan raped the girl twice in May last year.
Victim impact
The victim was in court as prosecutor Dawn Pritchard read her personal statement to Judge Mark Watson. The statement said she "feels numb when she thinks back to how she felt at the time." Pritchard added: "She felt scared of the world after it happened and felt overwhelmed. When she has flashbacks she sees his face and what happened. She feels like she can't trust anyone."
Defence barrister Andrew Wesley said he could not provide personal mitigation as Khan disputes the identity and age under which he was prosecuted. Judge Watson told Khan: "You deliberately concealed your true identity. She thought she was communicating with a child of her own age. It was a lie you have persisted with throughout these proceedings."
When the victim met Khan in person, she realised he was older than 14, and he claimed to be 16. The judge called Khan's claims about his age and identity "nonsensical" and noted the police were called by the victim's father after she told him she had been raped. Khan was also ordered to register as a sex offender indefinitely.
