Nuneaton attack: Asylum seeker Ahmad Mulakhil who raped 12-year-old girl jailed for 15 years
An Afghan refugee who kidnapped, raped and sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Ahmad Mulakhil was sentenced at Warwick Crown Court on Friday for the attack in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Mulakhil’s victim said during his trial that he was laughing as he attacked her last July.
He was found guilty of rape and two counts of sexual assault in February. He also pleaded guilty to another rape charge before his trial.
Jurors at Warwick Crown Court also found Mulakhil, 23, guilty of child abduction and making an indecent video during the girl’s ordeal.
The incident sparked protests in Nuneaton.
Sentencing at Warwick Crown Court on Friday, Judge Kristina Montgomery KC said the victim continued to suffer from trauma reactions and medical problems linked to Mulakhil’s offending.
He told her: “Your victim was particularly vulnerable due to her personal circumstances and suffered serious and ongoing psychological harm.”
The judge said there was “no doubt” that Mulakhil knew the victim was under 16. He said he “targeted” the victim, who remained distressed after the attack.
“He was left alone in the dark in the park for a while. He was distressed, hypervigilant. He was looking over his shoulder into the wooded area to see if you were still in the area.”
He added: “There is no dispute that your culpability is of the highest order.”
Mulakhil was told he would serve 15 years in prison and an additional 12 months on licence.
Mulakhil, who arrived in the UK on a small boat across the English Channel four months before the crimes, showed no emotion during the hearing and looked at lawyers and the judge during the hearing, appearing to listen intently to the interpreter sitting in the dock.
Marcus Harry, defending Mulakhil, said the defendant came to the UK when he was 22 after fleeing Afghanistan.
“He was planning to go to university to study economics, but for various reasons he became a focus of the Taliban, as did his family, which is ultimately why he fled the country,” Mr Harry said.
“His brother did the same and eventually went to another country. He entered this country himself and upon arrival he requested political asylum and was waiting for his request to be decided.”
Mulakhil told police he believed the girl was 19 and that she had initiated her first sexual experience.
He was tried together with Muhammed Kabir, also an Afghan refugee, who was acquitted of charges of deliberate strangulation, attempted child abduction and criminal intent to commit a sexual offence.
The unidentified victim told the hearing that both defendants approached him after playing on the swings in a park.
