Three asylum seekers have been found guilty of raping a woman on Brighton beach in a “cynical, predatory and callous” attack after she became separated from her friends on a night out. The trial at Hove Crown Court heard the woman was targeted as she was “staggering in the street” and “incapacitated” in the early hours of 4 October last year.
Egyptian national Ibrahim Alshafe, 25, and Iranian national Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, were both found guilty of two counts of rape by jurors on Thursday. Egyptian national Karin Al-Danasurt, 20, was also found guilty of all four counts of rape as a secondary party by encouraging and filming the ordeal. Jurors returned their verdicts after more than 12 hours of deliberation.
Footage shown to jurors shows Alshafe smiling during the attack. He and Ahmadi had claimed during the trial that the encounter was consensual. Al-Danasurt claimed he tried to stop the attack by filming it. The prosecutor, Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC, told jurors the woman recalled being spat on, kicked, and her throat grabbed during the attack.
Giving evidence, the woman told the court: “It wasn’t consensual, it was not consensual. They are evil and they have ruined my life.” In a police interview, she said she regained consciousness lying on the beach and thought she was going to be killed. DNA from both Alshafe and Ahmadi matched samples from the complainant.
At the time of the incident, all three defendants, who arrived in England by small boats last year, were living at Home Office-approved hotel accommodation for asylum seekers near Horsham, West Sussex. Jurors heard Alshafe’s asylum application had been refused the day before the attack. After the attack, the men returned to their hotel by bus and later had a barbecue together.
