Three men and a 17-year-old boy originally from Afghanistan have been sentenced for raping a teenage girl in Bristol, with the attackers having fled to Birmingham before being brought to justice. Mehrab Safi, 21, Awal Ahmadzai and Salman Habibkheil, both 19, and a 17-year-old boy – who cannot be named for legal reasons – attacked the 17-year-old girl at a house in Bristol last November.
Attackers fled to Birmingham and London
Safi, Ahmadzai and Habibkheil fled after the attack, travelling to Birmingham and London before going into the back of a refrigerated lorry to reach France. They were picked up by French authorities and returned to British police, before being charged with offences including rape and human trafficking.
Judge Michael Cullum jailed Safi, who was convicted of two counts of rape and one of human trafficking following a trial at Bristol Crown Court, for 15 years. Habibkheil was sentenced to nine years in detention for one count of rape and one of human trafficking, while Ahmadzai was sentenced to nine years in detention for one count of rape and one of sexual assault. The 17-year-old defendant, who cannot be identified because of his age, was sentenced to three years in detention for one count of rape.
Victim targeted while Christmas shopping
Judge Cullum said Safi and two of the other defendants met the girl while she was Christmas shopping with a friend in Bristol city centre on November 25. “She clearly didn’t know Bristol well and seemed keen to drink alcohol, potentially with people unknown to her,” the judge said. “She would have looked vulnerable from the beginning and I have no doubt that was her attraction, in part, to you Safi.”
Safi obtained the girl’s phone number and began an “intense exchange” of messages over the following days, with him asking for nude images of her on November 28. On November 30, the girl’s mother went out for the evening and Safi suggested she should travel to Bristol. Safi, along with Habibkheil, arranged a taxi to collect her from her home in Somerset and bring her to the city.
Judge describes 'unimaginable' trauma
“Having been trafficked for the purpose of committing a sexual offence, she was raped five times and was subjected to a penetrative sexual assault by Ahmadzai,” the judge said. “The cumulative trauma of these offences will undoubtedly live with her forever and is unimaginable.”
He continued: “The victim was obviously vulnerable and that’s why you all preyed on her.” The judge said the girl had been provided with alcohol and cigarettes, which had the effect of “grooming her and trapping her, though not physically”. She was “plied with drink until very significantly affected”, with the defendants getting her drunk to increase her vulnerability and the prospect she “would not or could not resist”, he added. Being raped by multiple men, one after another, left her “broken beyond resistance”, the judge said.
Addressing the defendants, the judge said they had suffered trauma but that did not excuse what they had done. “Each of the four reports gives some details as to the exact causes of the trauma that you each have suffered in relation to fleeing Afghanistan and travelling to the UK,” he said. “I’m not going to repeat the detail in these sentencing remarks but I do take it into account.”
