A 25-year-old Egyptian man and a 26-year-old Iranian man were convicted by a jury at Hove Crown Court of two counts of rape each. A 20-year-old Egyptian woman was found guilty of four counts of rape as a secondary party, having encouraged and filmed the attack. The incident occurred on October 4 last year on Brighton beach, involving three individuals who had crossed the Channel in small boats. All three were residing in Home Office-approved asylum seeker accommodation near Horsham when the crime took place. Al-Danasurt had previously been convicted of murder in Egypt before arriving in the UK on September 21, 2024. Alshafe’s asylum application was refused on October 3, though he claimed he was unaware of this update before travelling to Brighton that night.
The victim, a 33-year-old woman who cannot be identified, gave evidence from the witness box during the trial. She was cross-examined by barristers representing each of the three defendants. She told the jury no circumstances could ever justify what the group did to her. She said she was dragged onto the beach and raped as she drifted in and out of consciousness, and believes the men may have drugged her.
Through her tears, she described the horror of what happened. She said the defendants were all spitting on her, that she pleaded with them to stop but they refused, and that they found it amusing. She stated she sees them laughing at her every time she closes her eyes, that it was not consensual, and that she never said it was acceptable or that they could do that. She explained she feels dirty every day, that her skin crawls daily, and that she cannot sleep. She said they are evil and have ruined her life.
Alshafe and Ahmadi claimed during the trial that the encounter was consensual and that the woman had approached them along the seafront, kissed and touched them both, mentioned something about sex, and took them both to the beach. When responding to those claims, the woman said she found it unimaginable that she would have been on the seafront offering sex to people.
Border security and asylum minister Alex Norris stated the Home Office will move to remove them from British soil once sentencing has concluded.