Three men were jailed this week for the rape of a woman on Brighton beach in what a judge described as an "entirely predatory, callous and contemptuous" attack. The sentencing took place at Hove Crown Court.
Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, from Iran, and Ibrahim Alshafe, 26, from Egypt, were each sentenced to 21 years in prison. Karin Al-Danasurt, 21, also from Egypt, was convicted of rape as a secondary party for filming the attack and received 18 years and six months. All three were living in a Home Office hotel in Horsham at the time of the offense. Each man will also serve a further six years on extended licence and must complete two thirds of his sentence before being considered for parole.
The attack took place in the early hours of October 4. Prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC told the court the three men were "on the lookout for women that night for sexual purposes" as they visited bars and nightclubs on Brighton seafront. After leaving a club, they crossed paths with the victim at a fast-food restaurant and the group went to the beach together. Jurors heard the woman was "staggering in the street" and was "incapacitated."
Alshafe and Ahmadi took the woman behind a beach hut, where they raped her while Al-Danasurt filmed. The trial heard she was spat on, kicked, and had her throat grabbed during the attack. During the trial, Alshafe and Ahmadi claimed the encounter was consensual. Al-Danasurt claimed he was filming to try to help the woman by capturing potential evidence.
Sentencing Her Honour Judge Christine Henson KC told the men: "The impact on your victim was and continues to be devastating. It has had a life changing profound and irrevocable impact on her."
The victim said she had regained consciousness lying on the beach and believed she was going to be killed. In a statement read to the court, she said: "If I could do one thing I would go back to that night and never go out." She told the court that every time she closed her eyes she saw "the filmer's face" laughing at her.
"All I see when I close my eyes is the man who was filming it. All I can hear is the seagulls and the waves and the laughter in my head," she said. She added: "Sometimes it feels like the noises will never stop. I ask myself what kind of person would do this, let alone three." She also said: "My skin crawls no matter how hard I scrub it I still feel dirty."
