Video taken by a 15-year-old girl who was raped by asylum seekers “would cause riots if the public saw it”, said the barrister of one of the attackers. Two Afghan asylum seekers who committed the “horrific” rape of the teenage girl in a UK park were jailed on Monday.
Warwick Crown Court heard how Jan Jahanzeb and Israr Niazal, both 17, lured the visibly distressed victim into a secluded “den-type” area within a Leamington Spa park, where they assaulted her after she had lost sight of her friends.
Judge Sylvia de Bertodano previously lifted reporting restrictions that shielded the identities of the two defendants following requests to disclose their names by four media outlets, including the Press Association. The judge agreed that maintaining the current restrictions could spark speculation potentially leading to innocent individuals being wrongly accused.
(Image: PA)
“A lack of information stokes public anger and leads to the unchecked spread of false information,” the judge declared. Jahanzeb and Niazal, both aged 17, have now been sentenced to youth detention for periods of 10 years and eight months and nine years and 10 months respectively for the rape of a teenage girl.
Niazal’s lawyer Joshua Radcliffe called the phone footage “genuinely horrific”, adding: “I have no doubt that if the general public were exposed to that, we would have disorder on our hands,” reports MailOnline.
Addressing Jahanzeb, who has already received deportation notification papers, and Niazal, the judge said: “What you two did on that evening changed her life forever.
“No child should have to suffer the ordeal that she suffered. It’s clear from the footage we have seen that no one can seriously entertain the thought that you believed she was consenting.
“This is a case where it was absolutely clear to both of you that you were taking a child away from her mates against her strong objections to a place out of sight in order to commit this offence. You both knew perfectly well that what you were doing was criminal and wrong.”
Both teens pleaded guilty at a hearing at Coventry youth court in October to the attack on the girl in May of this year. The rape, which occurred after the victim had become separated from her friends in a grassy area, was described as “horrific” during legal discussions about reporting restrictions.
Prosecutor Shawn Williams revealed that both defendants were unaccompanied child asylum seekers. Jahanzeb fled Afghanistan and underwent an age assessment, which determined he was 17, after arriving in the UK in January this year, Mr Williams explained. Niazal arrived in the UK in November last year, initially being housed in Kent before being moved into local authority care in the Warwickshire area.
(Image: BPM MEDIA)
Mr Williams informed the court that video evidence obtained during a police investigation showed Jahanzeb with the victim and speaking in Pashto to call Niazal to join him.
Footage from a mobile phone found during the investigation was highly distressing, Mr Williams said, adding that the victim had screamed for help, but Jahanzeb had covered her mouth with his hand. The victim had made “explicit verbal protests” during what Mr Williams described as “an abduction”.
Mr Williams, referring to CCTV footage showing three figures, stated: “She was being led away against her will. She was taken to a bushy den-type area – a really secluded location.”
The victim, who was petrified, remembers being forced to her knees before being raped. “The prosecution case is that it was probably Jahanzeb that did that, but what is certain is that Israr Niazal was present and participating,” Mr Williams said.
The court heard that the victim had repeatedly yelled for Jahanzeb to release her, but he signalled for Niazal to join him before leading the girl to the rape scene.
Eventually, a member of the public came to her aid, advising her to contact the police and staying with her until she was safe.
In an impact statement read out in court by a barrister, the victim, who cannot be identified, said: “The day I was raped changed me as a person. Now every time I go out, I don’t feel safe.
“Watching (other family members) feeling crushed as they believe they should have been there or done something is particularly painful for me, even though I know they couldn’t have done anything to stop what happened. I hate the fact that I am now looked at as a victim, even though that’s exactly what I am.”
The court was informed that Niazal pleaded guilty a day before his 17th birthday – the cut-off point for automatic deportation of foreign criminals sentenced to more than a year in custody.
Robert Holt, representing Jahanzeb, revealed that the teenager had embarked on a nine-month journey from Afghanistan to the UK, finally reaching British shores on a small boat.
Jahanzeb, who will turn 18 in three weeks after being assigned January 1 as his birthday following age assessments, reportedly fled his home country because his father was involved in a fatal accident, leading to threats from the grieving family, it was alleged.
The court was informed that he has already been served with deportation papers.
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