Three Asylum Seekers Convicted of Brighton Beach Rape

Three asylum seekers have been convicted at Hove Crown Court of raping a woman on Brighton beach after she became separated from friends during a night out. The attack occurred in the early hours of October 4, 2024, when the victim, who had been drinking, was approached by the men as she staggered along the seafront.

Ibrahim Alshafe, 25, from Egypt, and Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, from Iran, were each found guilty of two counts of rape. Karin Al-Danasurt, 20, also from Egypt, was convicted on four counts of rape as a secondary party for encouraging the assault and filming it. The jury reached its verdicts after a five-week trial and more than 12 hours of deliberation.

Prosecutors told the court that the men targeted the incapacitated woman around 5:45 a.m., leading her behind a beach hut where Alshafe and Ahmadi raped her as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Al-Danasurt arrived shortly after and recorded the incident on his phone. The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, described in a police interview played to the jury that she regained awareness on the beach, fearing for her life amid unfamiliar voices and flashes of light. "I closed my eyes because I thought, oh my...