Three men guilty of ‘callous’ Brighton beach rape
Joshua AskewSouth East
Eddie MitchellThree men have been found guilty of raping a woman on Brighton beach in a “cynical, predatory and callous attack”.
Iranian national Abdulla Ahmadi and Egyptian national Ibrahim Alshafe had denied repeatedly raping the woman in the early hours of 4 October.
Karin Al-Danasurt, also from Egypt, had denied filming her ordeal. He was also found guilty of rape as a secondary party.
Asylum seekers Ahmadi, 26, and Alshafe, 25, and Al-Danasurt, 20, were convicted at Hove Crown Court.
Jurors heard during the trial the victim was left “too scared to go out” following the rape.
The three men were living at a Home Office hotel near Horsham at the time of the offence.
Eddie MitchellProsecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC said the “puerile contempt” shown by Al-Danasurt, the “predatory nature” of Alshafe, and Ahmadi’s selfish entitlement “created the perfect storm that night”.
The court previously heard the men targeted the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, after she became separated from her friends on a night out.
She was “highly intoxicated” to the extent that she was on her hands and knees vomiting into a toilet.
The woman said to police the men laughed as she was kicked, and her throat was grabbed during the rape, the court heard.
Al-Danasurt was accused of spitting in the woman’s face while recording the incident.
‘Into the darkness’
Prosecutor Llewellyn-Waters said the men were “on the lookout for women that night for sexual purposes” as they visited bars and nightclubs on Brighton seafront.
Alshafe told the court he was a virgin looking for a British bride.
After leaving a club, the men crossed paths with the woman at a fast-food restaurant and they all went to the beach.
“She didn’t know what was lying in wait for her,” said the prosector.
“She didn’t know she was being led into the darkness to be used as a sexual plaything.”
“Frankly, to these defendants, the complainant was meat,” Llewellyn-Waters added.
Eddie MitchellThe woman told the jury that the men were “evil” and had “ruined” her life.
Breaking down in tears, she said every time she closed her eyes she saw “the filmer’s face” laughing at her.
The woman added that she regained consciousness lying on the beach and thought she was going to be killed.
All three have been refused their asylum applications, according to the prosecution.
They are currently all engaged in appealing those decisions.
The prosecution added that it is not a forgone conclusion that the defendants would be deported following these convictions.
Al-Danasurt had been on trial for allegedly sharing a video of the rape, though this charge was withdrawn due to a legal technicality.
Eddie MitchellAlshafe and Ahmadi had claimed during the trial the encounter was consensual.
The woman denied this.
Following the attack, the men had a barbecue together later in the evening, around the same time the woman was waiting to be medically examined.
Ahmadi left the hotel near Horsham the day after the rape and moved to an address in Crewe, Cheshire, where he was arrested on October 12, the court heard.
The move had not been approved by the Home Office and Ahmadi had been marked as “absconding, self-departing” from the accommodation.
The men are due to be sentenced on 15 July.
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