Afghan asylum seeker convicted of abducting and repeatedly raping 12-year-old

An asylum seeker has been found guilty of abducting and raping a 12-year-old in a “targeted” attack which sparked protests in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.

Afghan national Ahmad Mulakhil, 23, whose victim said he laughed while attacking her last summer, was found guilty of rape and two counts of sexual assault, having admitted a further rape charge before his trial.

Jurors at Warwick Crown Court also convicted him of child abduction and taking an indecent video of the girl during her ordeal near a residential cul-de-sac.

His co-defendant, Mohammad Kabir, also an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, was acquitted of charges of intentional strangulation, attempted child abduction and committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence.

Kabir, who is 24 according to court documents but told jurors he is 22, was cleared after maintaining that he never touched the victim and had no sexual intentions towards her.

Jurors at a 10-day trial were told that Mulakhil arrived in the UK four months before the rapes and had made an immigration application linked to “problems” he had experienced in Afghanistan.

The trial was not told that Mulakhil arrived in Britain by small boat, or that Kabir had entered the UK by the same method on Christmas Day in 2024.

The men’s arrest and charge prompted Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Warwickshire County Council leader George Finch to claim there had been a “cover-up” of details about the attack.

Speaking in August, Mr Farage also suggested that the immigration status of people charged with offences should be released by police forces.

While guidance for police has since changed to allow forces to give nationality and ethnicity details if there is a legitimate policing purpose, forces still do not confirm crime suspects’ immigration status.

Jurors deliberated for more than seven hours over three days before reaching their verdicts.

Remanding Mulakhil in custody for sentence on a date to be fixed, Judge Kristina Montgomery KC said of him: “He will plainly receive a substantial custodial sentence which will automatically make him liable for deportation at its conclusion.”

She also thanked the jury for discharging their duties without paying any regard to “noise” surrounding the proceedings.

Mulakhil told police he believed the girl was 19 and that she had initiated what was his first sexual encounter.

During the trial, Prosecutor Daniel Oscroft described Mulakhil’s attempts to blame his victim for what happened as “stomach-churning” and “pretty revolting”.

During his closing speech to the trial jury, Mr Oscroft said of Mulakhil: “There was no hint in the evidence he gave of any pause for reflection or to consider that in retrospect he made a mistake.

“He is blaming her.

“He has tried to argue that he believed she was an adult – that he initially didn’t want anything to do with it – that she drove all of it, and that she consented throughout.”

The victim, who cannot be identified in media reports, told the trial she was approached in a park by both defendants after playing on swings.

During the sex attacks, the girl said, she had told her attacker to stop.

Asked by police what he was saying, the girl responded: “Nothing. He was just laughing.

“I was saying get off me. He didn’t say anything, he just carried on.”

Kabir was ordered to be discharged from the dock following his acquittal, with the court being told he would be released into the care of the escort service taking him to where he resides or is being held.

Commenting after the case, a Home Office spokesperson said: “We will not allow foreign criminals and illegal migrants to exploit our laws. We are reforming human rights laws and replacing the broken appeals system so we can scale up deportations.

“The Home Secretary has recently announced sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration. They will make Britain a less attractive destination for illegal migrants and will make it easier to remove and deport them.”