Two asylum seekers who raped woman on Brighton beach and third who filmed attack jailed | UK | News
Ibrahim Alshafe, Abdulla Ahmadi and Karin Al-Danasurt (Image: SUSSEX POLICE)
Three asylum seekers have been jailed, two of whom raped a woman on Brighton beach while the third filmed the attack on his mobile phone. While Egyptian national Ibrahim Alshafe (26) and Iranian national Abdulla Ahmadi (26), who raped the woman in the early hours of the morning of October 4 last year, were sentenced to 21 years in prison, 21-year-old Egyptian Karin Al-Danasurt, who filmed the attack, was sentenced to 18 years and 6 months in prison.
At sentencing at Hove Crown Court on Wednesday, it was heard all three men will serve a further six years on extended licence. Jurors were told the woman was seen “staggering around the street” and was targeted because she was “clumsy”.
Karin Al-Danasurt leaves Hove Trial Center Crown Court in Hove (Image: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)
Alshafe and Ahmadi took her behind a beach hut in the coastal city and raped her there while Al-Danasurt was filming the ordeal.
During the hearing, it was stated that the woman was spat on, kicked and her throat was held during the attack.
At the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, the woman read a victim impact statement to the court and said: “They ruined my life that night, they took something from me, no one had the right to do that.
“They violated me in every way.”
Sentencing the men, Judge Christine Henson KC said: “Each of you took part in a completely predatory and callous attack on a woman who had left her friends after a night of fun for herself.
“Each of you treated him with contempt, and each of you played a part in his most terrible humiliation.”
Prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC described the men as “lacking humanity” and their treatment of the woman as “utterly predatory, callous and degrading”.
He described the impact on women as “extreme”.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, added in a victim impact statement: “They took something from me that night, I’m afraid I’ll never get it back.
“Not taking responsibility for your actions is like sticking a knife in and twisting it again.”
He told the court that when he closed his eyes he saw the man who shot the video and they were all “laughing at me”.
“My skin tingles. No matter how hard I scrub, I still feel dirty,” she added.
Jurors found Alshafe and Ahmadi guilty of two counts of rape, while Al-Danasurt was found guilty of four rapes as a secondary party by encouraging and filming the attack.
The three defendants knew each other were living in a Home Office-approved hotel for asylum seekers in Lower Beeding, near Horsham, West Sussex.
Ahmadi and Alshafe met on a small boat that arrived in the UK from France on 19 June 2025, while Alshafe and Al-Danasurt, who arrived in the UK on 11 October 2024, were roommates at the hotel.
The three of them got ready at the hotel before boarding the bus to Brighton on the night of October 3.
Sussex Police share video of three men convicted of Brighton rape
A Snapchat video shows them in front of a mirror at the hotel around 7.30pm; Ahmadi places a durag (a narrow cloth tied around the top of the head) over Al-Danasurt, who points and laughs at the camera while being filmed by Alshafe.
During the night, the friends went to a beachside bar and nightclub, where Alshafe chatted to a woman using Google Translate about his hopes of marrying a woman, having children and obtaining citizenship in the United Kingdom.
The prosecution claimed he was a “disgusting little predator” who was rejected by several women that night and was “on the prowl” with the other defendants.
After the attack, the men returned to their hotel by bus and had a barbecue that evening while the woman awaited her medical examination.
During the hearing, all three men gave statements through interpreters denying the crimes.
Ms Llewellyn-Waters said her account provided a “clear and chilling insight into a completely distorted mindset” and a “complete lack of remorse”.
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Alshafe and Ahmadi claimed that the encounter was consensual and that the woman approached them on the seashore, kissed and touched them both, said something about sex and took them both to the beach.
The court saw footage showing the woman falling to the ground while walking along the seashore with Ahmadi and Alshafe.
Al-Danasurt claimed to jurors that he tried to stop the attack by filming it. Prosecutor Ms Llewellyn-Waters said it was a “package of lies”.
Videos shown to jurors showed Alshafe smiling, sticking out his tongue and slapping the woman in the face during the attack.
Ministers have vowed to deport these men once they are convicted.
On Wednesday, the prosecutor’s office said the criminal court must make its decision on the risk posed by defendants “regardless of the possibility that a defendant may one day be deported.”
