Three Afghan nationals and a 17-year-old boy received prison and detention sentences in a Bristol case involving the rape and trafficking of a teenage girl
BRISTOL, UK: Three Afghan nationals and a 17-year-old Afghan boy have received a combined 36 years in prison and detention for offences involving the rape and trafficking of a 17-year-old girl in Bristol, according to BBC News Urdu.
Mehrab Safi, 21, was sentenced to 15 years at Bristol Crown Court. Salman Habibkheli and Awal Ahmadzai, both 19, each received nine years in a youth detention centre. The 17-year-old defendant, whose identity is protected by law, was sentenced to three years’ detention for rape.
Safi was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of human trafficking. Habibkheli was convicted of rape and trafficking, while Ahmadzai was convicted of rape and sexual assault. The court found that the girl had been trafficked for the purpose of a sexual offence.
According to the prosecution, Safi met the teenager while she was Christmas shopping and later groomed her through Snapchat. He asked her for nude photographs before arranging a taxi to bring her to Bristol in the early hours of November 30.
The girl was taken to a house in the St Werburghs area, where she was given alcohol and sexually assaulted over several hours. The court heard that Ahmadzai raped and sexually assaulted her after she fell asleep. The 17-year-old defendant subsequently raped her, and Safi raped her again later that morning. Safi claimed the first incident was consensual and denied that the second had occurred.
Police found the girl at Safi’s home after her mother reported her missing. Officers arrested the 17-year-old defendant when he answered the door.
Three of the adult defendants later fled to Birmingham and London before attempting to reach France inside a refrigerated lorry on December 3, three days after the attack. They reportedly filmed themselves celebrating their attempted escape. French police arrested them in Calais, and they were returned to the UK.
Judge Michael Cullum said the offences had caused the victim unimaginable trauma, describing her as vulnerable and saying the defendants had exploited that vulnerability.
Crown Prosecution Service prosecutor Georgina Broom said the girl had been targeted, groomed and lured to an unfamiliar city before being assaulted. The victim told the court that anxiety resulting from the offences had forced her to postpone her dream of working with children.
The lawyer representing the 17-year-old defendant told the court that his parents had died when he was young and that he had fled the Taliban.
The case has highlighted concerns about online grooming, sexual exploitation and the protection of teenagers from abuse. The victim’s identity remains legally protected.
Source: BBC News Urdu, with additional details attributed to UK media reports, Avon and Somerset Police, and the Crown Prosecution Service.
