🔴 MIGRANT CONVICTED OF RAPING 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL IN NUNEATON

Ahmad Mulakhil, 23, was unanimously found guilty of one count of rape of a child under 13, two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, child abduction and taking an indecent video of a child.

He had previously pleaded guilty to a separate count of rape before the 10-day trial began.

Mulakhil arrived in the UK by small boat from France in March 2025, four months before the offences on 22 July last year.

His co-defendant, Mohammad Kabir, 24, also an Afghan national, was acquitted of intentional strangulation, attempting to abduct a child and committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence.

The jury heard that Mulakhil targeted the girl after she was approached in a park where she had been playing on swings.

Prosecutors said he led her to a secluded cul-de-sac where he carried out the attacks.

The victim told police that during the offences Mulakhil laughed while she repeatedly told him to stop.

When asked what he said on response, she said: “Nothing. He was just laughing. I was saying ‘get off me’. He didn’t say anything, he just carried on.”

Mulakhil told officers he believed the girl was 19 and that she had initiated contact, claiming it was his first sexual encounter.

In his closing speech, prosecutor Daniel Oscroft described Mulakhil’s account as “pretty revolting”, telling the jury: “There was no hint in the evidence he gave of any pause for reflection or to consider that in retrospect he made a mistake. He is blaming her. He has tried to argue that he believed she was an adult - that he initially didn’t want anything to do with it - that she drove all of it, and that she consented throughout.”

The court heard Mulakhil had made an asylum application linked to problems experienced in Afghanistan.

Following the verdicts, he was seen crying in the dock and using a tissue.

Judge Kristina Montgomery KC remanded him in custody for sentencing next month.

She told the court: “He will plainly receive a substantial custodial sentence which will automatically make him liable for deportation at its conclusion.”

The case led to questioning of guidance on disclosing nationality and immigration status in high-profile cases.

Warwickshire Police initially followed national guidance that did not require sharing such details when it announced Mulakhil and Kabir had been charged .

The incident prompted protests in Nuneaton and political comment, including from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who called for greater transparency on suspects’ status.

The Home Secretary updated guidance, which now recommends that police release nationality and ethnicity of suspects when it is in the public interest. Asylum status, however, is not disclosed by the police.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We will not allow foreign criminals and illegal migrants to exploit our laws. We are reforming human rights laws and replacing the broken appeals system so we can scale up deportations. The home secretary has recently announced sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration. They will make Britain a less attractive destination for illegal migrants and will make it easier to remove and deport them.”