UK: 2 Teen Migrants Jailed for Rape

Two teenage asylum seekers from Afghanistan raped a 15-year-old schoolgirl months after arriving in the UK on small boats.

Jan Jahanzeb and Israr Niazal, who both crossed the Channel as unaccompanied minors, attacked the girl in a park in Leamington Spa in May.

The 17-year-olds were living in taxpayer-funded accommodation in the affluent Warwickshire town at the time.

Their victim managed to record the start and aftermath of the “genuinely horrific” attack on her mobile phone after being separated from her friends.

Her attackers each admitted a single charge of rape of a child under 16 when they appeared before magistrates in Coventry in October.

Judge Sylvia de Bertodano lifted reporting restrictions banning the media from naming the pair at Warwick Crown Court on Monday.

Jahanzeb was jailed for ten years and eight months while Niazal was handed a term of nine years and ten months.

Barristers for Jahanzeb and Niazal had unsuccessfully tried to stop their names being made public, saying it could lead to “widespread public disorder”.

Robert Holt, representing Jahanzeb, asked the judge to ban the media from saying the pair were Afghan asylum seekers, but Judge de Bertodano said it was in the public interest for them to be named.

The teenagers appeared in court in the glass-fronted dock wearing matching grey-and-sky-blue raincoats, accompanied by two interpreters, with two social services support workers also in court.

Abducted in public park

Shawn Williams, prosecuting, said the girl was attacked in Newbold Comyn, a park popular with families and dog walkers.

He said she had been drinking vodka with friends and was “abducted” by Jahanzeb before being taken into a secluded area.

The Afghan teenager then rang his friend Niazal, telling him to “come quick” before the pair forced their victim to perform oral sex on them.

During the attack, the girl begged a female passer-by for help but she did not come to her aid.

The girl eventually escaped and was helped by a stranger who rang 999.

Williams said the distressed girl recorded the moment she was “abducted” by Jahanzeb, and filmed again after the attack.

Williams said: “The video footage is of a highly distressing nature. She is heard explicitly saying ‘you are going to rape me, let me go’.

“During the video Jahanzeb is heard telling her to shush. He can be seen to put his hand over her mouth, presumably in an effort to silence her. She recalls being terrified and wanting the ordeal to be over quickly.”

The court heard the girl was forced to her knees by the pair and attacked. “There was no way either defendant could have believed she was consenting,” added Mr Williams.

Disturbing video filmed by the girl in the lead-up to the attack was played to the court in which she repeatedly screams: “Help, I don’t want to go to the park.”

At one point a woman is heard asking: “Are you alright?”

The girl replies: “No. Help me. Please help me. So many people have walked past me. I want to go home. Please, please. Help me, help me. You’re going to rape me.”

Grainy CCTV footage showed the girl being “escorted” into the secluded area by the two defendants.

‘Why is no one helping me?’

Williams said the girl “eventually managed to get away” and “recorded several selfie-type videos, demonstrating extreme distress ... crying and hyperventilating”.

In a video after the rape, she could be heard sobbing: “Oh my god, I’ve just got f------ kidnapped.

“I thought I was going to be dead. Every single one of these people are driving past me. Help me, someone, please, please help me. Why is no one helping me? Please, someone.”

In a victim impact statement, the girl said: “The day I was raped changed me as a person. I am no longer a happy, carefree teenager. This was my first sexual experience.

“Now every time I go out I don’t feel safe. The thought of facing people at school makes me feel physically sick.

“Watching my older siblings and mum feeling crushed, as they believe they should have been there or done something, is particularly painful for me.”

Her mother said in a victim impact statement: “We have watched our vibrant, happy and confident daughter shrink down and suffer from anxiety so bad that she is often physically sick.

“This has affected every aspect of her life. Something broke in all of us that day.”

Deported automatically

Jahanzeb turns 18 in less than a month and will be automatically deported after serving his sentence.

The court heard that his date of birth was unknown, so an “age assessment” had been carried out by specialists.

He made three failed attempts to cross the Channel – including two when his boat was intercepted by French police – before succeeding at the fourth try in January.

Niazal pleaded guilty to the rape a day before he turned 17, meaning he cannot be automatically deported.

He is still awaiting the outcome of his asylum claim, having arrived in the UK in November last year.

His barrister, Joshua Radcliffe, suggested he might still be able to “make a life for himself in this country” when he was released.

Judge de Bertodano told the Afghan defendants they had “robbed” the girl of her childhood.

She said cultural differences between the UK and Afghanistan did not prevent the defendants from understanding consent.

She said: “This is a case where it was absolutely clear to both of you that you were taking a child away from her friends to somewhere where you could not be observed in order to commit this offence.

“I’m satisfied that you both knew perfectly well that what you were doing was a crime.

She added that crimes of this sort “significantly damage” the public’s view of asylum seekers.

“You have betrayed the interests of those like you, who came here seeking safety. For that you should feel a deep and lasting sense of shame.”

Judge de Bertodano recommended Jahanzeb is deported when he is freed from prison.

She said the Secretary of State will be notified of Niazal’s sentence ahead of any decision about his deportation.

The judge ordered the pair to remain on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.