Asylum seeker jailed 9.5 years for raping 13-year-old girl in Nottingham nature reserve
Abdul Khan, 28, groomed a 13-year-old on Snapchat by posing as a teenager before raping her in woodland in Clifton, Nottingham. He faces automatic deportation to Afghanistan after sentencing.
Afghan asylum seeker convicted of child rape after Snapchat grooming in Clifton woodland
An asylum seeker who posed as a teenage boy on Snapchat to groom and rape a 13-year-old girl has been sentenced to nine and a half years in prison, bbc.co.uk reports.
Abdul Khan, believed to be 28 and already serving a 23-month sentence for sexual communication with a separate child in Derbyshire, was convicted at Nottingham Crown Court on two counts of rape, one count of sexual activity with a child, sexual communication with a child, meeting a child following grooming, and perverting the course of justice.
The attack took place in a nature reserve in Clifton, Nottingham, on 14 May last year. Khan had arranged the meeting through the Snapchat messaging app, telling the girl he was a 14-year-old boy.
When they met in person and it was evident he was not 14, he claimed to be 16, the court heard. He then raped the girl twice following initial activity that jurors found had been consensual.
Khan arrived in the UK in the back of a lorry in 2015. Nottingham Crown Court heard he faces automatic deportation to Afghanistan after serving two thirds of his sentence. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender indefinitely.
Sentencing Khan, of HMP Nottingham, Judge Mark Watson said: "You deliberately concealed your true identity. She thought she was communicating with a child of her own age. It was a lie you have persisted with throughout these proceedings."
The judge described Khan's claims regarding his age and identity as "nonsensical" and bound to fail, adding that the victim "has on any view been profoundly affected, as her parents must also have been."
The victim's father alerted police after she told him what had happened. Khan was subsequently linked to the attacks by a mobile phone seized during his arrest in the Derbyshire case. Despite DNA evidence placing him at the scene, Nottinghamshire Police said he continued to deny having met the girl.
Prosecutor Dawn Pritchard read a victim personal statement to the court, in which the teenager described feeling "numb when she thinks back to how she felt at the time." Pritchard summarised: "She felt scared of the world after it happened and felt overwhelmed. When she has flashbacks, she sees his face and what happened. She feels like she can't trust anyone."
Defence barrister Andrew Wesley told the court he was unable to offer any personal mitigation on Khan's behalf, as the defendant continued to dispute both the identity and age under which he was prosecuted.
Khan covered his face with his hands as he was led from the dock following the sentence.
Detective Constable Madeleine Johnson, from Nottinghamshire Police, said: "Khan is an opportunistic and predatory offender who poses a clear risk to teenage girls and other young women. As his previous grooming conviction demonstrates, he was absolutely determined in his ambition to strike up sexual relationships with young girls. The victim in this case was particularly vulnerable at the time of this offence and has unsurprisingly suffered a great deal as a result of what Khan did to her."
Source: The Sun