Four Refugees Rape 17-Year-Old Girl for Hours

Mehrab Safi, 21, as well as 19-year-old Salman Habibhail and Awal Ahmadzai, both 19 and their 17-year-old co-drinker after she was persuaded to go to Bristol alone and all four raped her in one of the city's homes.

Safi was found guilty of two counts of rape and Habibhail one each. Both were found guilty of organizing or facilitating the movement of a woman for the purpose of exploitation. Ahmadzai was found guilty of one count of rape and one count of sexual assault. The 17-year-old was found guilty of one count of rape.

Safi was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Khabibhail and Ahmadzai were sentenced to nine years in a juvenile detention center. The 17-year-old was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison for minors.

The victim met Safi in Bristol during a trip she made in November 2025 to do Christmas shopping with a friend - her first trip to the city from her Somerset home, as heard in Bristol Crown Court.

Immediately after they left, Safi began to correspond with the girl. He confessed his love to her and asked her to send indecent photos.

Four days later, Safi, in collaboration with Habibhail, arranged for a taxi to pick up the girl and take her to Bristol. She was taken to his home where she was raped for several hours.

The victim's mother reported her missing and police found her and the 17-year-old at Safi's home.

When police arrived, the three men fled and eventually managed to cross the English Channel in the back of a truck carrying frozen food.

Footage captured by Safi on his mobile phone shows the men laughing and gesticulating in the back of the truck, which the prosecution believes suggests they thought they had managed to escape. But they were quickly arrested in France and returned to Britain.

Four men raped the girl five times. In a personal statement, the victim said that now she feels like a different person and can not leave the house alone. She put off her dreams of going to college and working with children.

Bristol Crown Court has been told that all four were born in Afghanistan and were forced to flee their homes as young men because of the Taliban regime's "brutality.".

Habibhail lost his father to the Taliban, and his family advised him to go to England. When Ahmadzai arrived in Britain, he dreamed of becoming a mechanic, but was unable to do so as he sought asylum. He is believed to have PTSD and feared being deported to Afghanistan. The 17-year-old has lost his parents in Afghanistan and fled to Britain at the age of 11. The court was told that on his way to England he was subjected to "horrific abuse" when he was 12. But Judge Callum said their experiences did not justify the serious psychological harm they caused to the "vulnerable" girl who was "prepared and trapped.".

Sgt. Joe Babbage, of Avon and Somerset Police, praised the girl for the bravery with which she told police her story and was questioned in court. “It is impossible to overestimate the courage she showed,” she said.