Four Afghan men jailed for rape of teenage girl in Bristol house attack
Three men and a teenage boy of Afghan origin have been sentenced for raping a 17-year-old girl at a Bristol house in November. The victim was plied with alcohol before the hours-long assault.
Four men of Afghan origin sentenced for Bristol rape of teenage girl
Three adult men and a 17-year-old boy originally from Afghanistan have been jailed following the rape of a teenage girl at a house in Bristol, the Daily Express reports.
Mehrab Safi, 21, Awal Ahmadzai, 19, and Salman Habibkheil, 19, along with a 17-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons, attacked the 17-year-old victim in November last year. According to Avon and Somerset Police, the girl — from Somerset — was brought to the Bristol address by taxi and plied with alcohol before being sexually assaulted and raped over a number of hours.
Judge Michael Cullum, presiding at Bristol Crown Court, sentenced Safi to 15 years in prison after he was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of human trafficking. Habibkheil received nine years in detention for one count of rape and one of human trafficking. Ahmadzai was given nine years for one count of rape and one of sexual assault. The teenage defendant was sentenced to three years in detention for one count of rape.
Following the attack, Safi, Ahmadzai and Habibkheil fled the property when police arrived, travelling to Birmingham and then London before concealing themselves in a refrigerated lorry bound for France. French authorities detained the three men and returned them to British police, who subsequently charged them with offences including rape and human trafficking.
Detective Sergeant Jo Babbage said the grooming and contact with the victim had been initiated before she was transported to Bristol. "It's clear that that's where the grooming and the contact process was started that led up to her being brought into Bristol by taxi which was arranged [by Safi]," Babbage said.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the girl described the lasting effect of the attack on her daily life. "I had a lot more friends, I would go out a lot more, I was happier," she said. "Now, I've stopped going out, I don't even leave the house in general."
She added that leaving home now only happens in the company of her closest friend or mother, and that the thought of going out alone causes her to panic. "Generally my brain keeps blocking out the trauma that happened to me, but when I am feeling low emotionally it all comes back and makes me feel even worse," she said. "Sometimes I would dream about what happened, which I was not expecting — and I do not like those dreams at all."
Source: Daily Express