WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: The sick trio of asylum seekers were jailed at Hove Crown Court on Wednesday following the rape of a woman on Brighton beach in October last year
Two asylum seekers who repeatedly sexually assaulted a woman on Brighton beach and a third who filmed the horrific act have been imprisoned for the “entirely predatory and callous attack”.
Egyptian national Ibrahim Alshafe, 26, and Iranian national Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, were each sentenced to 21 years in prison for raping the woman on 4 October last year, while Egyptian national Karin Al-Danasurt, 21, received a sentence of 18 years and six months.
The sentencing at Hove Crown Court on Wednesday revealed that all three will serve an additional six years on extended licence. Jurors were told the woman was singled out by the men as she was “staggering in the street” and was “incapacitated” in the early hours of October.
Alshafe and Ahmadi led her behind a beach hut in the seaside city where they raped her while Al-Danasurt recorded the ordeal. The trial heard the woman remembered being spat on, kicked and having her throat seized during the assault.
At Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, the woman read a victim impact statement to the court, stating: “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 stated: “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 depicted the men as “devoid of humanity”, labelling their treatment of the woman as “entirely predatory, callous and contemptuous”. She characterised the impact on the woman as “extreme”.
In her victim impact statement, the woman, who cannot be identified due to legal reasons, stated: “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 informed the court that when she closes her eyes, she visualises 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 convicted 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 assault. The three defendants, who knew each other, were residing 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 trio prepared at the hotel before taking a bus into Brighton on the night of October 3.
A Snapchat video reveals them in front of a mirror at approximately 7.30pm at the hotel, with Ahmadi adjusting a durag – a snug-fitting cloth tied around the top of the head – on Al-Danasurt, who gestures to the camera and grins, while being filmed by Alshafe.
During their night out, the mates visited a beachside bar and nightclub where Alshafe conversed with a woman via Google Translate about his aspirations to marry, have children and acquire UK citizenship. The prosecution proposed that he had been a “nasty little predator” that evening, having been spurned by several women and was “on the prowl” alongside the co-defendants.
Following the assault, the men returned to their hotel by bus and later had a barbecue, around the same time the woman was awaiting medical examination. Throughout the trial, all three men testified through translators to deny the offences.
Ms Llewellyn-Waters stated their testimonies offered a “clear and chilling insight into a wholly warped mindset” and a “total lack of remorse”. Alshafe and Ahmadi asserted the encounter was consensual, claiming the woman approached them on the seafront, kissed and touched them both, mentioned something about sex and led them both to the beach.
The court viewed footage of the woman stumbling while walking with Ahmadi and Alshafe along the seafront. Al-Danasurt told jurors he attempted to halt the attack by filming it, which prosecutor Ms Llewellyn-Waters dismissed as a “pack of lies”.
The footage presented to jurors revealed Alshafe grinning and poking his tongue out throughout the assault, while also striking the woman across the face. Ministers have pledged to deport the men following their sentencing.
On Wednesday the prosecution argued the sentencing court should reach its decision regarding the danger posed by the defendants “without regards to possibility that one day a defendant may be deported”.
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