Afghan asylum seeker jailed for raping and abducting 12-year-old girl | Warwickshire
An Afghan asylum seeker who videotaped himself kidnapping and raping a 12-year-old girl was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Ahmad Mulakhil was convicted last month of rape, child abduction, making indecent videos and two counts of sexual assault. Mulakhil confessed to a second rape before his trial began.
The 23-year-old’s attacks in July triggered large-scale anti-asylum protests in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, last summer; Protesters marched along the city’s main street, carrying St George’s crosses and union flags, and chanting slogans calling on the far right to unite. A handful of participants wore clothing bearing Nazi imagery.
Sentencing at Warwick crown court on Friday, Judge Kristina Montgomery KC said the victim continued to suffer from trauma reactions and medical problems since the attack.
Montgomery said: “Your victim was particularly vulnerable due to his personal circumstances and suffered serious and ongoing psychological harm.
“You met your victim shortly after 6pm. There was an exchange between you and you were caught on CCTV being in each other’s presence for a second time just after 8pm.
“The security camera footage recorded a conversation in which you asked your victim to tell you her age. She said she was 19, which was a blatant lie. Your reaction was not credible and the jury’s verdict leaves no doubt that you knew she was under 16.”
The judge said the defendant “targeted” the victim after meeting her earlier in the evening and noted that she remained distressed after the attack.
He said: “[After the attack]You left together, but when you left, he was left alone in the dark in a park… He was distressed, hyper-vigilant. I look over your shoulder into the woods to see if you’re still in the area.
“She immediately described your sexual assault on her. She was then medically examined and questioned by the police and finally cross-examined in court while you contested her allegations.
“There is no dispute that your culpability is at the highest level.”
Mulakhil was told he would serve 15 years in prison and an additional 12 months on licence.
Marcus Harry, defending Mulakhil, who came to the UK on a small boat four months before the crimes last July, said the defendant came to the UK when he was 22 after escaping from Afghanistan.
Harry told the sentencing hearing: “He left Afghanistan at the age of 22, after spending 12 years at school until he was 18. He was planning to go to university to study economics, but for various reasons he, like his family, became the focus of the Taliban, which is ultimately why he fled the country.”
“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. He said Mulakhil was laughing while attacking him last summer.
