Two 17-year-old Afghan asylum seekers, Jan Jahanzib and Asrar Niazal, were today sentenced to 10 years and 8 months, and 10 years and 9 months respectively in a young offenders’ institution after admitting the rape of a 15-year-old British girl.
Kabul 24: The pair had pleaded guilty in October. At the request of media organisations including the BBC, the judge lifted the automatic reporting restriction that protects the identity of defendants under 18. Both teenagers will remain on the sex offender register for life.
Prosecutor Sean William described the attack as “brutal and horrifying”. Court documents state that the victim became separated from friends in a grassy park area in Leamington Spa.
Jahanzib and Niazal dragged her to a secluded spot and took turns raping her.Disturbing mobile phone footage recovered by police shows Jahanzib speaking in Pashto, covering the girl’s mouth to stifle her screams and calling Niazal to join him.
The victim repeatedly begged to be released.A passer-by heard her crying, stayed with her and called police.Reading the victim’s impact statement in court, her representative said:
“The day I was raped, my life changed forever. I no longer feel safe anywhere. I hate that my family look at me as a victim and blame themselves.
I know they couldn’t have stopped it, but I will never be the same girl again.”Jahanzib, whose age was assessed as 17 in January 2025, has already received deportation papers.
The judge recommended that Niazal also be deported after serving his sentence.Both defendants arrived in the UK unaccompanied.
Niazal entered in November 2024 and was initially housed in Kent before being moved to Warwickshire.The case has reignited fierce debate over age assessment procedures for asylum seekers, public safety and immigration policy in Britain.
