A small boat migrant who dragged a woman into his tent and raped her twice is facing years behind bars. Moustafa Elbohy, a 32-year-old Egyptian national, was found guilty of two counts of rape by a jury at Southwark Crown Court on Friday after more than seven hours of deliberation.
The woman stopped to speak to Elbohy and his friends at their encampment near Embankment tube station in central London after a night out drinking with work colleagues on September 20, 2025. She engaged with the group because she lived near "a lovely Middle Eastern community" and liked hearing them speak Arabic, the court heard.
Threats via Google Translate
Elbohy then pulled her into a tent and threatened her using Google Translate, before forcing her to the ground and raping her twice. The woman thought the asylum seeker might kill her, prosecutor Richard Milne told the court.
"She was scared and fearful, and told him she needed to get home to her husband and children," Milne said. When she eventually escaped, she contacted a friend who arrived within 15 minutes and took her to Charing Cross police station to file a report.
Victim's account
The woman told police she was "really scared" as "it was dark and there was no one else around". "He was a really volatile, angry man," she added. "I felt fear and scaredness. I felt disgusting."
Elbohy, who previously lived at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Wokingham, Berkshire, arrived in Britain on a small boat three months before the attack and had his asylum claim rejected while still based at the hotel.
Sentencing and wider context
He insisted the woman consented to the sexual encounter, but the jury found him guilty. He will be sentenced on Tuesday.
The case comes as the Labour Government continues to work to bring down the number of small boats crossing the English Channel. The number of migrant crossings so far this year is 23,529, down 40% from the same time the previous year. Smugglers have drawn attention by targeting new routes to avoid being intercepted by Border Force. The Government said this week that hundreds of bank accounts with suspected links to criminal immigration networks have been shut down in a bid to crack down on smuggling gangs.
