Small boat asylum seeker who grabbed woman in nightclub and marched her out to rape her in alleyway faces years in jail

A failed asylum seeker who raped a young woman after taking her out of a York nightclub was notorious for targeting single women there, a court heard.

Eid Anwar Fathi Najjar (20) arrived in the UK illegally on a small boat three years ago and now faces a lengthy prison sentence after being branded a ‘sexual predator’.

His victim, described by witnesses as “completely out of his mind”, was separated from his friends while browsing a bar in the popular tourist city in the early hours of July 6.

The court heard Najjar stopped the “drunk” victim from trying to escape his clutches by holding her “firmly” at the Vudu Lounge in Swinegate, York.

When the woman tried to get into a taxi, Najjar made her walk in the other direction.

HE She was later seen wandering around the city center partially naked after being raped in an alley by Najjar.

Najjar, who was understood to be originally from Egypt, was followed after the security cameras in the nightclub were examined.

He was due to appear in court next week on rape charges.However, at yesterday’s hearing, he changed his defense to guilty and admitted that he had sexually assaulted the woman.

Failed asylum seeker Eid Anwar Fathi Najjar had only been at the Vudu Lounge in York for a few minutes when he chose his victim (pictured), held her in a ‘tight grip’ and walked her outside before raping her.

He was detained before his sentencing in December, during a brief hearing in which he was assisted by an Egyptian Arabic translator.

Details can now be reported from a report Preliminary hearing at York Magistrates’ Court where Chimwemwe Chabwera outlined the case for the prosecution.

He said the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been drinking in city center bars with friends and had ‘little memory of what happened before and after the incident’.

At one point during the pub crawl he became separated from his friends and ended up in the Vudu Lounge, ‘but he doesn’t remember what happened after that’.

‘The next thing she remembered was being on her front doorstep with a man she didn’t know,’ Ms Chabwera said.

‘She wasn’t wearing trousers or underpants (and) her bag was missing. He couldn’t remember the code for the (door) key safe.

‘She remembers being in the Shambles Marketplace with the same man.

‘She got her bag and trousers back, but not her panties. His trousers were dirty but undamaged.’

The victim was later found wandering half-naked in York’s historic Shambles (pictured)

Later, while the two brothers were walking through Shambles Market, they saw a partially naked woman in the street who looked ‘visibly distressed and confused’.

“She had no mobile phone or purse and was unable to answer questions,” Ms Chabwera said.

‘He looked drunk. They suggested taking him to Shambles Market to find his bag.

‘They found this in the alley along with his phone.’

As he was walking back to his house, they saw a police van passing by and stopped it.

Ms Chabwera said the woman told officers she wasn’t sure what had happened but “felt she was having sexual intercourse”.

“This frightened him because he didn’t remember anything,” the prosecutor added.

‘It’s clear she wouldn’t be willing to have sex with someone she met on a night out and have sex in a public place.

‘He had bruises on his right arm and thigh.’

Police conducted an investigation into the security cameras, which led them to the Vudu Lounge; Here, the images showed the woman ‘swaying, stumbling and hitting people’.

It appears Najjar had only been at the venue for a few minutes when he picked her out.

Within ten minutes, the man was seen ‘firmly grasping her and pulling her out’ as she tried to push him away, the court heard.

“A member of the security staff said he told Najjar to leave him alone because he was drunk and vulnerable,” Ms Chabwera said. he said.

As Najjar was ushering the woman out of the bar, the doorman was distracted by something else.

Following police checks, Najjar was arrested at his home in the city, where he gave a false name before verifying his real identity.

He initially falsely claimed that he had consensual sex with the woman, denied that the woman was sober and that she had taken off his clothes and that he had taken off her clothes.

after shown No comment was made on the CCTV footage, which contradicted his version of events.

Ms Chabwera said it was the prosecution’s allegation that Najjar was a ‘sexual predator’ who targeted a defenseless, lonely woman.

He said doormen at Vudu Lounge told him that Najjar was notorious for targeting single women at the bar and that they had seen him do so before.

‘Najjar entered the country illegally on a small boat in 2022,’ he added.

‘He’s a failed refugee; ‘He has no right to stay.’

Graham Parkin, who represented Najjar at the hearing in July, said his client’s asylum claim had been closed.

But he added that when he met with Immigration Services the same week he was told there was no intention to remove Najjar from the UK at this stage.

At yesterday’s hearing York Recorder Judge Sean Morris deferred sentencing until December for a probation report but told Najjar: ‘A prison sentence is inevitable in this case. It’s just a question of how long it will take.”

Mohammed Abrahim Abuzet, 25, of Bradford, was also arrested and charged with rape over the incident, but he denied the allegation, which prosecutors withdrew.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs was contacted for opinion.