Afghan asylum seeker guilty of raping girl, 12

An Afghan asylum seeker has been found guilty of abducting and raping a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton.

Ahmad Mulakhil, 23, took the girl to a quiet cul-de-sac on 22 July and carried out "extremely horrific sexual offences".

At Warwick Crown Court, he was found guilty of rape, abduction, sexual assault and taking an indecent video of the girl.

Co-defendant Mohammad Kabir, 24, also an Afghan asylum seeker, was found not guilty of strangulation, attempted child abduction and attempting to commit a sexual offence.

Jurors at the 10-day trial heard evidence from the victim who said Mulakhil laughed while attacking her.

The case prompted changes to guidance on reporting the nationality and immigration status of people arrested and charged.

There were widespread protests in Nuneaton because those details about the men were not reported by the authorities when they were arrested.

Mulakhil arrived in a small boat from France in March 2025, four months before he raped the girl.

Listening to the jury deliver its verdicts in court, he could be seen crying in the dock and blowing his nose with a tissue.

Remanding Mulakhil in custody to be sentenced next month, Judge Kristina Montgomery KC said: "He will plainly receive a substantial custodial sentence which will automatically make him liable for deportation at its conclusion."

The court heard Mulakhil had made an immigration application linked to "problems" he had experienced in Afghanistan.

The arrests of the men 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.

Farage later called on police forces across the UK to share the status of charged suspects.

At the time, Warwickshire Police said once someone was charged with an offence, the force followed national guidance that did not include sharing ethnicity or immigration status.

Days later, police were encouraged to consider disclosing the ethnicity and nationality of suspects charged in high-profile cases.

The jury was told that in the hours before the attack, Mulakhil, who admitted one count of rape before the trial, was hanging round the town.

The victim told the trial she was approached in a park by both defendants after playing on swings.

During the sex attack, the girl said she told Mulakhil 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."

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

Prosecutor Daniel Oscroft described Mulakhil's attempts to blame his victim as "stomach-churning" and "pretty revolting".

During his closing speech to the jury, the prosecutor said: "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."

Police described the girl as an "extremely brave" victim of "horrific sexual offences".

Det Ch Insp Colette O'Keefe, the head of Warwickshire's major investigations unit, said she would be affected for the rest of her life.

"To be subject to any sexual offence at any age is obviously traumatic," she said.

"I'd just like to add tribute really to the victim. I think what's got lost in a lot of this is that it's a 12-year-old victim at the heart of this investigation.

"Regardless of the ethnicity or nationality of the two defendants, we should really remember that the victim has been raped and really the bravery that she has shown."

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."

A Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council spokesperson said the authority knew "how upsetting this has been".

"We have worked closely with the police to liaise with the community throughout this very difficult period," they added.

"We continue to facilitate access to both us and the police for residents to discuss concerns that they may have."

Following his acquittal, Kabir was ordered to be discharged from the dock and told he would be released into the care of the escort service taking him to where he resides.

Additional reporting by PA Media

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