They thought they got away with it – but the group are now facing jailThree Afghan nationals laugh after raping teenage girl
Laughing and joking, these three Afghan nationals think they have got away with raping a teenage girl after fleeing the UK in the back of a lorry.
But they are now facing jail for raping the 17-year-old girl after plying her with cigarettes and alcohol.
Mehrab Safi, 21, filmed his two friends Awal Ahmadzai and Salman Habibkheil, both 19, in the back of the lorry – three days after they raped the teenager at a house in Bristol.
Mobile phone footage recovered from Safi’s phone showed the three defendants in the back of the lorry, with Habibkheil making hand gestures to the camera and laughing.
Video footage captures the three men laughing in the back of a truck(Image: Avon and Somerset Police)
“It is a direct insight into the mood of the three, we suggest, as they travel out of the UK and into France,” Edd Hetherington, prosecuting, told the jury.
“The prosecution says Safi is the one who in the course of this journey takes his phone out and starts filming. Mr Habibkheil is the man in the corner gesturing and laughing and Mr Ahmadzai is having a lie down on wherever it is that’s being transported legitimately in the back of that lorry.
“We suggest they are celebrating because they think they have got away with it.”
They were discovered by the French authorities soon after arriving in Calais and returned to the UK, where they were immediately arrested on suspicion of rape.
The three men went on trial at Bristol Crown Court alongside a 17-year-old boy. The defendants had denied all the charges, but were convicted of:
- Safi: one count of human trafficking and two charges of rape
- Habibkheil: one count of human trafficking and one charge of rape
- Ahmadzai: one charge of rape and one of assault by penetration.
- The 17-year-old boy: one charge of rape.
The attack happened days after the girl had met Safi while Christmas shopping with a friend in Bristol city centre.
Pictured L-R Salman Habibkheil, Mehrab Safi, Awal Ahmadzai(Image: Avon and Somerset Constabulary)
Safi groomed the girl on Snapchat – including asking for nude photos from her – before arranging for a taxi to bring her to Bristol in the early hours of November 30.
At the property, the girl was provided with cigarettes and vodka before being raped by Safi and Habibkheil.
After falling asleep, she was raped and sexually assaulted by Ahmadzai, and then raped by the 17-year-old boy. Later that morning, the girl was raped again by Safi.
She told police that following the four attacks, she said she wanted to leave the house.
“I just wanted to go home, I didn’t feel safe, I just wanted to go home,” she told officers. “I didn’t like it. I just wanted to be at home.”
Safi, of St Werburghs, Bristol; Habibkheil, of Lockleaze, Bristol; Ahmadzai, of Redcliffe, Bristol, were remanded into custody.
The 17-year-old boy was released on conditional bail, including an overnight curfew, at an address outside of the region.
Judge Michael Cullum told them: “To each of the defendants who are adults, you will receive immediate custodial sentences.”
Addressing the youth, the judge said: “Although you are 17 years old, you must expect to receive an immediate custodial sentence.
“Your lawyers will ask me not to send you to custody and I will consider those arguments.”
They will all be sentenced on October 6.