Asylum seeker filmed alleged rape on Brighton beach 'to try to stop it', court hears

7 April 2026, 17:25 | Updated: 7 April 2026, 20:04

An asylum seeker filmed an alleged rape by two others on Brighton beach because he was "trying to stop it", a court has heard.

Egyptian national Karin Al-Danasurt, 20, is accused of spitting on a woman, calling her a "dirty bitch" and encouraging co-defendants Ibrahim Alshafe, 25, and Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, to rape her on 4 October last year.

Prosecutors described the alleged attack as "cynical, predatory and callous".

The woman had been separated from her friends on a night out when the trio found her "staggering in the street" alone, jurors were told.

Hove Crown Court heard that footage showed the woman falling down twice.

Iranian national Ahmadi and Egyptian national Alshafe have each denied two counts of raping the woman.

Al-Danasurt is jointly charged on all four rape counts as a secondary party "encouraging the rape by his actions at the scene, including filming it", and has pleaded not guilty to all four charges.

He denies a fifth count of "sharing intimate films" without the complainant's consent after allegedly sending footage of the alleged attack to Ahmadi on Snapchat.

He told jurors that by filming three videos he was trying to get Alshafe and Ahmadi to stop and also so he could show somebody what had happened.

Before he filmed the alleged incident, he said he tried to "grab them away" from the woman, the court heard.

But his defence was branded a "pack of lies" by prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC.

"I suggest what you've done in your evidence is put on a performance with a string of lies to hide your true involvement," she added.

The defendant replied: "What I said is totally the truth, I'm not lying, I'm telling the truth."

The court heard how Al-Danasurt also yelled "God will expose you" to the two men during the alleged rape.

"You found it entertaining, didn't you?", Ms Llewellyn-Waters asked him.

"No, there was no entertainment at all," he replied.

At the time of the alleged offences all three defendants lived in a Home Office-approved migrant hotel in Lower Beeding, near Horsham.

On Tuesday, Alshafe also began giving his evidence of the events and said the complainant approached him and Ahmadi, and asked how they were before kissing and touching them both.

Asked if she appeared drunk, Alshafe said no and that from her touching them and laughing their understanding was she wanted to have sex.

He added: "That is everything that came to my mind because of that and she also said something like 'come to sex'."

The trial continues.

(c) Sky News 2026: Asylum seeker filmed alleged rape on Brighton beach 'to try to stop it', court hears