Two asylum seekers who repeatedly raped a woman on Brighton beach and a third who filmed it have been jailed for the “entirely predatory and callous attack”.
Egyptian national Ibrahim Alshafe, 26, and Iranian national Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, were jailed for 21 years each for raping the woman on October 4 last year, while Egyptian national Karin Al-Danasurt, 21, was sentenced to 18 years and six months.
The three men were also handed a further six years on extended licence at their sentencing at Hove Crown Court on Wednesday.
It follows a five-week trial in April, where jurors heard the woman was targeted by the men as she was “staggering in the street” and was “incapacitated” in the early hours of October 4.
Alshafe and Ahmadi took her behind a beach hut in the seaside city and raped her, while Al-Danasurt filmed the ordeal.
The trial heard the woman recalled being spat on, kicked and her throat being grabbed during the attack.
At the sentencing hearing, the woman read a victim impact statement to the court, saying: “They destroyed my life that night, they took something from me nobody had the right to do so.
“They violated me in every way.”
Sentencing the men, Judge Christine Henson KC said: “Each of you participated in an entirely predatory and callous attack on a female separated from her friends after what had been a fun night out for her.
“You each treated her with contempt and you each played a role in degrading her in the most appalling way.”
Prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC described the men as “devoid of humanity” and their treatment of the woman was “entirely predatory, callous and contemptuous”.
She described the impact on the woman as “extreme”.
Judge Henson said in her judgment the moving of the woman from the relative safety of the street to darkness on the beach was a form of “abduction”.
“Your victim was particularly vulnerable due to her unconscious state through most of the ordeal,” she added.
The judge paid tribute to the woman for her “tremendous bravery” in contacting the police and giving evidence during the trial which saw the men brought to justice.
In her victim impact statement, the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, added: ““They took something from me that night I’m afraid I will never get back.
“To not take accountability for their actions (is) like sticking a knife in and twisting it again.”
She told the court when she closes her eyes she sees the man filming it and them all “laughing at me”.
“My skin crawls. No matter how hard I scrub it, I still feel dirty,” she added.
Alshafe and Ahmadi were found guilty of two counts of rape by jurors, while Al-Danasurt was found guilty of four counts of rape as a secondary party by encouraging and filming the attack.
The three defendants knew each other were living at Home Office-approved hotel accommodation for asylum seekers in Lower Beeding, near Horsham, West Sussex.
Ahmadi and Alshafe met on a small boat from France arriving in the UK on June 19 2025, while Alshafe and Al-Danasurt, who arrived in the UK on October 11 2024, were roommates at the hotel.
The three got ready at the hotel before getting a bus into Brighton on the night of October 3.
A Snapchat video shows them in front of a mirror at around 7.30pm at the hotel, with Ahmadi sorting a durag – a close-fitting cloth tied around the top of the head – on Al-Danasurt, who gestures to the camera and smiles, while being filmed by Alshafe.
During the night out, the friends went to a bar and nightclub on the beach where Alshafe chatted to a woman using Google Translate about his hopes to marry a woman and have children and get citizenship in the UK.
The prosecution suggested he had been a “nasty little predator” that night who had been rejected by several women and was “on the prowl” with the co-defendants.
After the attack, the men returned to their hotel by bus and had a barbecue later that evening, around the time the woman was waiting to be medically examined.
During the trial, all three men gave evidence through translators to deny the crimes.
Ms Llewellyn-Waters said their accounts provided “clear and chilling insight into a wholly warped mindset” and a “total lack of remorse”.
Judge Henson told the court: “The arrogant and entitled attitudes you each displayed that night continued throughout the trial.
“Each of you were prepared to say whatever it took to deflect your actions. Lie after lie.”
Alshafe and Ahmadi claimed the encounter was consensual and that the woman had approached them on the seafront, kissed and touched them both, said something about sex and took them both to the beach.
The court saw footage of the woman falling down while walking with Ahmadi and Alshafe on the seafront.
Al-Danasurt claimed to jurors he had tried to stop the attack by filming it, which prosecutor Ms Llewellyn-Waters said was a “pack of lies”. The videos shown to jurors showed Alshafe smiling and sticking his tongue out during the attack, as well as slapping the woman in the face.
Ministers have vowed to deport the men after they were sentenced.
Border security minister Alex Norris said: “This case is nothing short of gut-wrenching.
“I want to be absolutely clear – there is no place for foreign criminals in the UK. Sex offenders will be denied refugee protections, and we will do everything in our power to get them out of the country.”
In mitigation, barrister Jonathan Ray, defending Ahmadi, said the defendant wanted to tell the court he was “very, very sorry” for what had happened and he would like to apologise to the woman.
Mr Ray added Ahmadi has signed paperwork for his deportation and he asked for his mobile phone back.
The court also heard inquiries into Al-Danasurt’s possible murder conviction in Egypt has still not been independently verified or confirmed.
Ms Llewellyn-Waters told the court Al-Danasurt’s account from his asylum interview is that he stands convicted of murder in absence and sentenced to 15 years, while he maintains his innocence.
But Al-Danasurt’s lawyer Nicholas Wayne said the defendant’s position today is that the account he provided was “exaggerated” and Judge Henson said she has disregarded the information for the sentencing as it solely comes from Al-Danasurt.
