Asylum seeker accused of gang raping woman on Brighton beach tells court he was threatened by police officers ‘who turned up to his cell in the middle of the night’

An asylum seeker accused of gang-raping a woman on Brighton beach told a court he was threatened by two police officers who ‘came to his cell in the middle of the night’.

Iranian national Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, He is accused of repeatedly raping a woman last October.

Speaking through a translator, Ahmadi told the court officers came to his cell at 3am and demanded he sign a document.

He said the officers told him that if he did not comply and sign the contract, he would spend seven years in prison.

The claim came after Ahmadi was asked whether he had signed the statement he had previously given to the police.

He told the court he believed his words had been manipulated and that he was intimidated in his cell.

‘They came to me at three in the morning and said if you don’t sign this paper you will be imprisoned for seven years,’ he said.

Prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Water said Ahmadi had made a “bad comment” to allegations police had threatened him with prison and his legal team had made no mention of the incident.

Ahmadi is on trial alongside Egyptian national Ibrahim Alshafe (pictured), who is accused of repeatedly gang-raping a 33-year-old woman last October.

Egyptian national Karin Al-Danasurt (pictured) allegedly filmed the attack and provoked the two men

I asked him, ‘You’re lying, aren’t you?’ he asked and Ahmadi replied: ‘I am not lying.’

Miss Llewellyn-Water said: ‘Did you tell your solicitor that two police officers came in the middle of the night and threatened you with signing a paper?’

He said: ‘Yes. ‘I told my lawyer and he advised me to leave it at that for now, but I want the jury to know everything.’

Ms Llewellyn-Waters replied: ‘No police came to your cell and threatened you, did they?’

Ahmadi said: ‘I’m not making this up myself. I know it is. Ask Abraham, he will say, I was afraid, I was afraid.’

Responding, Mrs Llewellyn-Waters asked him: ‘Why are you smiling? You’re totally opportunistic, aren’t you?

‘Lies are coming out of your mouth, aren’t they?’

Ms Llewellyn-Waters said it was standard procedure for police to ask Ahmadi to digitally sign a document, allowing officers to download his pin number to gain access to his phone.

He said: ‘This is a RIPA notice. If you fail to comply, it is a criminal offense and you have refused to sign.’

Ahmadi replied: ‘Nobody told me that.’

Ms Llewellyn-Waters said: ‘Bullshit.’

Ahmadi and 25-year-old Egyptian citizen Ibrahim Alshafe are accused of repeatedly gang-raping a 33-year-old woman last October.

Another man, Egyptian national Karin Al-Danasurt, allegedly filmed the attack and provoked the two men.

All three men are accused of raping the woman, while Al-Danasurt is also accused of sharing intimate videos of the attack.

The jury was shown CCTV footage which allegedly showed the complainant walking down a ramp towards the beach with Ahmadi and his accomplice Alshafe.

Ms Llewellyn-Waters said: ‘Let me suggest to you that the complainant had left Burger King and was clearly alone and that you and Mr Alshafe at least recognized this and decided to take him to the beach for your sexual gratification.’

Alshafe was spotted outside the court earlier this month

Al-Danasurt at the beginning of April

In the clip, it is seen that the woman fell down while coming down the ramp and the defendants helped her.

When asked why he fell, Ahmadi replied: ‘Maybe there was something wrong with his shoe or he stepped on my foot or Ibrahim’s foot.’

Ms Llewellyn-Waters then asked Ahmadi if she looked at the woman as she walked down the ramp and noticed that the woman had one boot up and the other down.

He said: ‘Have you noticed this about him? Have you ever dealt with him as a being? Was he just a walking hole to you?’

He then asked whether Ahmadi had asked the woman if she needed help after the fall.

He said: ‘He asked for help and I helped him to his feet.’

Mrs Llewellyn-Waters said: ‘So you asked him?’

Ahmadi replied: ‘I asked him if he was okay, and he said ‘I’m fine’.’

Turning to the footage, Ms Llewellyn-Waters said it clearly showed the complainant stumbling as she stood up before walking unsteadily down the ramp.

He asked Ahmadi if he considered this the ‘walk of a normal and sober person’. and he replied: ‘He was walking normally.’

Ms Llewellyn-Waters later said: ‘You were standing in the street when a complete stranger came up to you and put her hand on your penis under your dress.

“Then you say he pushed you and Mr Alshafe onto the beach and he was so desperate to have sex with you both.”

‘Don’t you find it strange that, despite all these thoughts, he never once tried to put his hands inside your clothes and touch you?’

Ahmadi said he touched her when they went to the beach hut.

He then asked Ahmadi why there were inconsistencies between his statement to the police and his testimony on the stand in his explanations of how the sequence of sexual activity occurred.

He asked: ‘Isn’t this the fact that you and Mr Alshafe noticed discrepancies between the two sets of lies and are now trying to change your account to avoid discrepancies between your account and what Mr Alshafe told the police?’

The men are said to have filmed themselves preparing to spend the night out before catching a bus to Brighton.

Ahmadi did not answer.

Ms Llewellyn-Waters later told the court that Ahmadi’s evidence was ‘a pack of lies’.

He said: ‘You three were completely predatory towards him. You knew the situation he was in. ‘You took him to the beach and did whatever you wanted to him.’

Ahmadi replied: ‘No, we did not do that. ‘I didn’t rape her.’

The prosecutor added: ‘You insulted him and thought it was funny?’

‘No,’ he said.

Hove Crown Court previously heard the alleged rape occurred after Ahmadi and Alshafe met the woman on the seashore after leaving a nightclub.

Ahmadi said the woman walked up to the duo and kissed them both.

Ahmadi claimed he grabbed the woman’s genitals after she kissed him, then did the same to Alshafe.

Honor Judge Christine Henson KC asked him: ‘Did it bother you that this woman was touching your penis while your friend was standing there?’

He said: ‘It was so normal, so common. ‘He came to us, we did not go to him.’

The court heard the woman then suggested they have sex together and allegedly said something to the effect of “come for sex” before taking the men to Brighton beach.

Asked if he heard his friend talking to the woman about anything else, Mr Ahmadi said: ‘Nothing, probably a few small or simple words.’

All three men said they spoke only very limited English.

Ahmadi said the two were having ‘consensual sex’ with the woman behind a shack on the beach when Al-Danasurt arrived and began filming the incident.

Alshafe and Ahmadi claim Al-Danasurt grabbed the woman’s face, forced her mouth open, and then spat.

He also allegedly called the woman a ‘dirty bitch’ multiple times, which made her angry.

Three short videos of the alleged rape seized from Al-Danasurt’s phone, one 29 seconds long, one 22 seconds and the other eight seconds, were played to the court.

The jury was told that Alshafe and Ahmadi arrived in the UK on small boats in June 2025, while Al-Danasurt arrived by the same method in September 2024.

All three men were staying at Cisswood House Hotel in Horsham, West Sussex; This was a Home Office-approved hotel for those seeking or appealing their asylum and immigration status.

The court heard the men were getting ready at their hotel before catching a bus to Brighton to spend the night.

They first went to Revolution Club before setting off early in the morning and heading to the nearby Horizon nightclub.

The alleged rape occurred after the three defendants and the complainant left the nightclub.

All three men deny all charges.

The trial continues.