Three males jailed for raping teenage lady earlier than fleeing UK in again of lorry | Crime

Three males who raped a 17-year-old lady earlier than escaping from the UK to France at the back of a lorry have been jailed for a complete of 33 years.

Mehrab Safi, 21, Salman Habibkheil and Awal Ahmadzai, each 19, and a 17-year-old boy plied the lady with alcohol after she had been persuaded to journey into Bristol alone, and all 4 raped her at a home within the metropolis.

Safi was discovered responsible of two counts of rape, and Habibkheil of 1. Both have been convicted of arranging or facilitating the journey of a feminine with a view to exploitation. Ahmadzai was discovered responsible of 1 depend of rape and certainly one of sexual assault. The 17-year-old was convicted of 1 depend of rape.

Safi was jailed for 15 years whereas Habibkheil and Ahmadzai have been jailed for 9 years. The 17-year-old was sentenced to 2 years and 7 months in a youth detention centre.

The sufferer had met Safi in Bristol throughout a visit she made in November 2025 to do some Christmas buying with a pal – her first journey to town from her dwelling in Somerset, Bristol crown court docket heard.

Immediately after they left, Safi started messaging the lady. He advised her he cherished her and requested her to ship indecent pictures.

Four days later, Safi, in collaboration with Habibkheil, organized for her to be collected by a taxi and introduced into Bristol. She was taken to his home the place she was raped over a number of hours.

The sufferer’s mom reported her lacking and police discovered her and the 17-year-old boy at Safi’s home.

As officers arrived, the three males fled, ultimately managing to make their approach throughout the Channel at the back of lorry carrying frozen items.

Footage from Safi’s cell phone confirmed the lads laughing and gesticulating at the back of the lorry, which the prosecution instructed confirmed they thought they’d escaped. But they have been swiftly arrested in France and returned to the UK.

The lady had been raped 5 occasions by the 4 offenders. In a sufferer private assertion, the lady mentioned she felt like a distinct individual now and couldn’t go away her dwelling alone. She had placed on maintain her goals of going to school and dealing with youngsters.

Bristol crown court docket was advised the 4 have been born in Afghanistan and displaced as younger folks by the “brutality” of the Taliban regime.

Habibkheil had misplaced his father to the Taliban and was instructed by family members to journey to England. Ahmadzai had ambitions of being a mechanic when he arrived within the UK however was unable to as an asylum seeker. He is believed to have post-traumatic stress dysfunction and was petrified of being deported to Afghanistan.

The 17-year-old offender misplaced his dad and mom in Afghanistan and fled to the UK aged 11. The court docket heard he suffered “horrendous abuse” en path to England, arriving aged 12. He had flashbacks and nightmares.

But Judge Cullum mentioned their experiences didn’t excuse the intense psychological hurt they’d induced to a “weak” lady who had been “groomed and trapped”.

DS Jo Babbage, of Avon and Somerset police, praised the lady’s bravery in telling police her story and being questioned in court docket. “It’s not possible to overstate the braveness she has proven,” she mentioned.

Babbage mentioned: “We do perceive there may be going to be nervousness in communities, however we must be clear that this isn’t a few tradition, a group, any non secular perception. This is about deep-rooted misogyny and legal behaviour in people.”