An asylum seeker who crossed to Britain aboard an inflatable vessel faces accusations of sexually attacking a woman on Brighton’s shoreline, a court has heard.

The individual, an Iranian Kurdish man called Abdulla Amih Ahmadi, went missing from a Home Office-run accommodation in Horsham less than a day after the claimed offence, jurors were told.

He has rejected the accusations.

Hove Crown Court heard that a woman aged 33 was conveyed to the shore and came round while three men were attacking her.

Sussex Police disclosed the assault occurred on the lower esplanade during the early morning of Saturday, October 4 last year.

The prosecution’s Hanna Llwellyn-Waters said Ahmadi, who is 25, was noted as having vanished on October 5.

The defendant had left Cisswood House Hotel, which operates as Home Office-sanctioned accommodation for refugees in Horsham, travelling towards a location in Crewe.

The court was informed that Ahmadi reached Britain on a small boat on June 19, 2025, accompanied by an Egyptian man called Ibrahim Alshafe, with both assigned to the hotel from June 21, 2025.

Ibrahim Alshafe, aged 25, has denied two allegations of rape.

Abdulla Ahmadi has additionally denied two allegations of rape.

Karin Al-Danasurt, a 20-year-old Egyptian national, has denied four allegations of rape and one charge of sharing three video recordings.

All three suspects were staying at the same establishment.

Ms Llwellyn-Waters indicated that Ahmadi departed the hotel on October 5, the day after the woman’s reported attack, describing it as an unauthorised departure.

She said he was documented as having absconded after departing voluntarily.

Staff responsible for asylum housing were unable to locate him, and he never returned to the hotel.

Police took him into custody in Crewe on October 12.

All three men received formal charges on October 16.

The case proceeds at Lewes Crown Court in Hove.