Asylum seekers ‘gang-raped vulnerable woman on beach as she made her way home from night out, with one filming ordeal’, trial told
Asylum seekers ‘gang-raped vulnerable woman on beach as she made her way home from night out, with one filming ordeal’, trial told
A highly vulnerable woman was gang-raped by three asylum seekers, who laughed and spat at her while one captured the harrowing incident on camera, according to court proceedings.
The perpetrators treated her as if she were mere prey, dragging her to a secluded section of Brighton Beach where they took turns assaulting her. The woman, whose identity remains confidential, described being left bloodied and disoriented, her consciousness wavering during the attack. Mobile phone footage suggested one of the accused was posing for the camera, smirking and sticking out his tongue.
Prosecution’s Opening Statement
Hanna Llewellyn-Waters, opening the prosecution’s case, stated that the victim, in her thirties, was ‘almost incapacitated’ and alone after parting ways with her companion following the attack. She emphasized that the defendants’ actions were not driven by goodwill or camaraderie but by a calculated, predatory intent. ‘She was repeatedly abused for their sexual gratification and entertainment, which was partly derived from her degradation,’ the prosecutor said.
‘Instead of offering her help or even just leaving her be, these defendants targeted her. And that targeting was not founded in good will or bonhomie, high spirits—it was cynical, predatory, and callous. Frankly, to these defendants, she was meat, she was there to be used as a receptacle, and that’s what they did.’
Karin Al-Danasurt, 20, an Egyptian national, denies recording the woman as she was being attacked by him and two other men. The prosecutor highlighted that the defendants sought to achieve their goal by targeting someone too intoxicated to resist. ‘They wanted sex, and with someone too drunk to fight back, that desire was easily fulfilled,’ the statement read.
Iranian Abdulla Amih Ahmadi, 26, of Crewe, and Egyptian Ibrahim Alshafe, 25, of Lower Beeding, Horsham, are each accused of raping the woman twice. Al-Danasurt is additionally charged with four counts of rape, alleged to have been encouraged by her, and with sharing intimate footage of the incident.
The court was informed that the defendants resided at Cisswood House Hotel in Horsham, a Home Office-approved accommodation for asylum seekers and those appealing their immigration status. Prosecutors claimed the woman was taken from the main drag to a more isolated beach area, near a wall, where the assaults occurred.
The woman had spent several hours drinking with her friends before the attack, leaving her unable to stand. ‘At that stage, she was falling over drunk,’ the prosecutor explained. ‘She lacked balance and control over her limbs, making her an easy target.’ She also recalled hearing men laughing above her head and another man abusing her during the assault.
‘I’ve been drunk many a time, but I’ve never felt this way before. I could see a light in my face, like when you turn on the flash of an iPhone camera, and I could hear a foreign accent saying: “Dirty bitch, dirty bitch.”‘
The victim described the experience as ‘as if my soul was leaving my body.’ Jurors were shown footage of her motionless on the beach, eyes closed, as Ahmadi and Alshafe carried out the alleged rapes. A clip from Al-Danasurt’s phone revealed Ahmadi covering his face with his hand, possibly to avoid being seen on camera. Another pixelated recording depicted Alshafe lifting his head to face the camera, smiling and sticking out his tongue.
The court also noted that Ahmadi fled the Cisswood Hotel the day after the alleged assaults, relocating to a Crewe address without Home Office approval. He was later apprehended by police a week later.
