Asylum seekers, 17, sentenced for girl's rape

Two teenage Afghan nationals seeking asylum in the UK have each been given custodial sentences for the rape of a 15-year-old girl in Leamington Spa.

Jan Jahanzeb and Israr Niazal, both 17, had pleaded guilty to the 10 May attack at a hearing in October.

During a sentencing hearing at Warwick Crown Court on Monday, Judge Sylvia de Bertodano lifted reporting restrictions on naming the boys following applications by media organisations including the BBC.

Deportation papers have been served to Jahanzeb, He was sentenced to a youth detention term of 10 years and eight months. Niazal, about whom the judge invited the government to recommend deportation, was sentenced to nine years and 10 months.

The court heard an impact statement on behalf of the victim in which she said: "The day I was raped changed me as a person.

"Now every time I go out I don't feel safe."

She added: "Watching [other family members] feeling crushed as they believe they should have been there or done something is particularly painful for me, even though I know they couldn't have done anything to stop what happened.

"I hate the fact that I am now looked at as a victim, even though that's exactly what I am."

At the opening of the trial, prosecutor Shawn Williams said the defendants, who each appeared in the dock assisted by their own interpreter, were unaccompanied child asylum seekers.

Jahanzeb fled Afghanistan and underwent an age assessment after arriving in the UK in January, which concluded he was 17, Mr Williams said.

Niazal arrived in November last year. He was initially accommodated in Kent before being moved into local authority care in the Warwickshire area.

The rape, which took place after the victim became separated from friends on a grassed area, was described as "horrific" during legal submissions regarding reporting restrictions.

Mr Williams told the court that video evidence showed Jahanzeb with the victim and speaking in Pashto - the official language of Afghanistan - to summon Niazal to join him.

Footage from a mobile phone recovered by the police was highly distressing, Mr Williams said, adding that the victim had screamed for help but Jahanzeb had placed his hand over her mouth.

He said Jahanzeb and Niazal led the highly-distressed victim into a "den-type" area in parkland in Leamington Spa where they attacked her.

The victim had repeatedly shouted for Jahanzeb to let go of her as she was led away.

She was later assisted by a member of the public who advised her to contact the police and stayed with her until she was safe.

Explaining her decision to lift reporting restrictions, the judge said keeping them in place could lead to speculation which might see innocent people being targeted.

"A lack of information stokes public anger and leads to the unchecked spread of false information," she said.

In a further impact statement from the victim's mother, she said: "We have watched our vibrant, happy and confident daughter shrink down and suffer with anxiety so bad, she is often physically sick."

She added of the attack: "Something broke in all of us that day."