Asylum seeker who filmed an alleged rape accused of telling a ‘pack of lies’

An asylum seeker who said he filmed the alleged rape of two men on Brighton beach because he was “trying to stop it” has been accused of telling “a load of lies” in court.

Karin Al-Danasurt has been giving evidence for more than three days at Hove Crown Court at a hearing into her role in the alleged rape, which took place in the early hours of October 4 last year.

The 20-year-old Egyptian citizen, along with other defendants Egyptian citizen Ibrahim Alshafe (25) and Iranian citizen Abdulla Ahmadi (26), allegedly targeted the woman in a “cynical, predatory and callous” attack.

Alshafe and Ahmadi were accused of repeatedly raping the woman on the beach in the East Sussex city, while Al-Danasurt filmed the incident.

On Tuesday, during cross-examination in evidence, he denied allegations that he spat on the woman during the incident, called her derogatory names and laughed at or encouraged the other defendants.

Jurors were told the woman became separated from her friends during a girls’ night out, and prosecutors said the three defendants approached her as she “stumbled alone on the street.”

The court heard the footage showed the woman falling to the ground twice.

Al-Danasurt told jurors he tried to stop Alshafe and Ahmadi by making three videos during the alleged attack and also tried to “defend himself” so he could tell someone what happened.

He tried to “grab them” before filming the incident but no one responded to him, the court heard.

But in cross-examination of KC, prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters questioned his tone in the videos, asking him “what was so funny” and asking what he was doing in the three-and-a-half minutes before he started filming.

He said the prosecution argued that Al-Danasurt told “a bunch of lies” and was taking care of himself.

The prosecutor added: “I suggest that what you did in your evidence be turned into a performance with a series of lies to conceal your true involvement.”

However, the defendant replied: “What I said is completely true, I am not lying, I am telling the truth.

“If I wanted to lie, I would have said I didn’t go to Brighton from the beginning.”

The court heard Al-Danasurt told two men during filming: “God will expose you”; He said those were “strong” words, but Ms Llewellyn-Waters said an interpreter said the phrase could be used in a derogatory way.

“You found it amusing, didn’t you?” he said.

He replied: “No, there was no fun.”

He is also accused of slapping the complainant, which he denies.

The court heard Ahmadi’s statement to police said that Al-Danasurt began slapping the woman after the incident and spit in her mouth.

But responding in court on Tuesday, Al-Danasurt said: “No, this never happened.

“He told me before because I gave the video to the police and when he finds out that I gave the video to the police, of course he will blame me and say everything against me,” he said.

The court also heard that Al-Danasurt bought juice and croissants for the other defendants after the ordeal and had a barbecue with them about 12 hours later, despite claiming that Ahmadi had threatened him that evening.

He said about the barbecue: “This was their idea, they said to me ‘come with us, let’s do this’, I did not refuse.”

A video of Al-Danasurt taking a selfie wearing filtered sunglasses and lighting a blazing barbecue hours after the alleged rape was shown in court.

All three defendants knew each other at the time of the alleged offenses and were based at Cisswood House Hotel in Lower Beeding, near Horsham, West Sussex, a Home Office-approved accommodation for asylum seekers, jurors heard.

Ahmadi, of Crewe in Cheshire, and Alshafe, of Lower Beeding, denied raping the woman twice.

Al-Danasurt, also of Lower Beeding, is jointly charged with all four rape charges as a secondary party who “encouraged the rape by his actions at the scene, including filming”, and has pleaded not guilty to all four charges.

He denies the fifth allegation that “private films were shared” without the complainant’s consent.

The charge relates to Al-Danasurt allegedly sending recordings of the alleged rapes to Ahmadi’s phone via Snapchat shortly after the incident.

On Tuesday Alshafe also began giving evidence about the events, saying the complainant approached him and Ahmadi and asked how they were doing before kissing and touching them both.

When asked if he appeared drunk, Alshafe said no and said he could tell by the way he was touching them and laughing that he wanted to have sex.

She added: “So that’s everything I can think of and he also said something like ‘come to sex’.”

The trial continues.