Brighton Beach Rape: Three Illegal Immigrants Convicted

Three illegal immigrants have been convicted at Hove Crown Court of the gang rape of a woman on a beach in Brighton.

Karin Al-Danasurt, aged 20, and Ibrahim Alshafe, aged 25, both from Egypt, together with Abdulla Ahmadi, aged 26, from Iran, were found guilty following a trial. Al-Danasurt was convicted on all four counts of rape as a secondary party. Alshafe and Ahmadi were each convicted on two counts of rape.

The offences took place in October last year after the woman became separated from her friends in the seaside resort. The court heard she had been socialising with friends in a bar until around 3am before moving on to a nightclub near the beach. The woman told police she remembered taking drinks from a man described as Asian before feeling sick in the toilet. She said she had no further recollection until the attack itself.

Prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters told the jury the woman was intoxicated to such an extent that she was to all intents and purposes incapacitated at the time. The three men were said to have targeted her as she staggered alone in the street. Ms Llewellyn-Waters described the targeting as cynical, predatory and callous rather than founded in any goodwill.

Alshafe and Ahmadi took the woman to a secluded location behind a beach shack where they raped her repeatedly. Al-Danasurt followed the group and filmed the attack on his mobile phone. Jurors were shown disturbing video footage from the scene in which the woman was lying motionless on her back with her eyes closed. In the clips Ahmadi and Alshafe were seen raping her while Al-Danasurt continued to record. One of the recordings showed Ahmadi covering his face with his hand during the assault. The men were heard laughing and calling the woman a dirty bitch while spitting on her.

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The woman gave evidence that she drifted in and out of consciousness during the prolonged attack. She told the court she was pinned down and feared for her life. She recalled asking the men why they were doing it to her but said they simply laughed.

The court heard the defendants had filmed themselves getting ready for a night out earlier that evening before catching a bus into Brighton. After the attack the three men filmed themselves having a barbecue in the grounds of the hotel where they were staying.

All three defendants had been residing at Cisswood House Hotel in Horsham, West Sussex. The hotel is Home Office-approved accommodation provided for asylum seekers. Alshafe and Ahmadi had arrived in the United Kingdom by small boat on 19 June 2025, three months before the offences. Al-Danasurt had entered the country on 11 October 2024.

The jury heard detailed accounts from each man about how they came to be in the United Kingdom. Al-Danasurt told authorities he was born in Egypt on 22 June 2005 and attended school there until the age of 11. He said he left Egypt in June 2022 but did not reach the United Kingdom until October 2024. After a short time in a detention centre he was transferred to Cisswood House Hotel in Horsham where he shared Room 5 with Alshafe.

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Alshafe was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and lived there with his two sisters. His older brother had already claimed asylum in Italy. Alshafe attended school until the age of 14 before serving three years in the Egyptian army. He told authorities he left Egypt after leaving the army because of severe financial difficulties. Alshafe claimed that while travelling through Libya he and his group were kidnapped by an unknown militia and held in a camp until a ransom was paid by their families. He said he reached Italy in May 2025 before crossing the English Channel by small boat.

Ahmadi was born in Iran into a Kurdish community and told authorities he received no formal education. He worked as a labourer and farm hand after his father died when he was 13. Ahmadi said his mother suffered from kidney problems and he himself had broken his shoulder, limiting his ability to work. He claimed he left Iran after being discovered by security police while volunteering for the Democratic Party for Iranian Kurdistan, a banned separatist group. Ahmadi told authorities he feared he would be arrested and killed if he remained in Iran. He escaped with help from his uncle and made his way to France before crossing the Channel. Alshafe and Ahmadi first met on the small boat crossing.

During the trial Al-Danasurt told the jury that rape to him meant sex when questioned about the issue of consent. Alshafe claimed in evidence that he was a virgin who had been looking for a British bride. All three men denied the charges throughout the proceedings. Alshafe and Ahmadi each denied two counts of rape. Al-Danasurt denied all four counts of rape, maintaining he had acted only as a secondary party by filming events at the scene.

A separate count of sharing intimate films faced by Al-Danasurt was withdrawn by the prosecution after it was established the offence could only be tried in a magistrates’ court. The defendants sought to blame each other for the offences during the trial. The jury concluded that all three had been on the prowl for women that evening and had acted together in the attack.

Read more: Brighton Beach Gang Rape Trial - Weekly Update

All three men are currently appealing against the refusal of their asylum applications. They will be sentenced at Hove Crown Court on 15 July.

The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that the convictions followed a full trial in which the victim gave evidence about the events of that night. The case involved the presentation of mobile phone footage recovered from the defendants as central evidence. Convictions of this nature for gang rape offences highlight the serious approach taken by the courts to crimes involving multiple perpetrators targeting vulnerable individuals.