A small boat migrant convicted of raping a woman on Brighton beach had arrived in Britain after fleeing a murder conviction in Egypt, it has emerged.
Karin Al-Danasurt, 20, was among three men found guilty yesterday of raping a 33-year-old woman who was dragged behind a beach hut, pinned down, spat on and kicked in the early hours of October 4 last year. The victim said she feared the laughing attackers would kill her as she lapsed in and out of consciousness.
It reportedly emerged during an earlier court appearance that Al-Danasurt had written on his asylum application that he had been convicted of murder in his absence in Egypt — a capital offence. He is understood to have claimed mistaken identity and blamed his brother for the killing. His defence barrister disputed that he had been convicted of murder.
The jury had not been told of this history before his conviction at Hove Crown Court, state reports.
Questions have been raised about how Al-Danasurt could have been housed in a three-star hotel in Horsham, West Sussex — just a short distance from Brighton — while awaiting a decision on his asylum claim.
Who were the other convicted men?
Iranian Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, and Egyptian Ibrahim Alshafe, 25, were also found guilty of two counts of rape each after jurors deliberated for 14 hours. Both men had crossed the Channel together on the same small boat in September 2024 and were placed in the same hotel.
Al-Danasurt, who filmed the attack on his phone, was jointly convicted on all four counts of rape. He had arrived by dinghy in June 2025. All three are failed asylum seekers currently appealing against the Home Office’s decision to reject their applications, reports The Sun.
What happened on Brighton beach?
The four-week trial heard the woman was dragged behind a beach hut by what the prosecutor described as a “predatory pack” in the early hours of October 4. She was pinned down, spat on, kicked and had her throat grabbed. Video shown to the court showed the men celebrating the attack and joking together beforehand.
Afterwards they held a barbecue that evening, around the time the victim was waiting to be medically examined.
The 33-year-old victim previously told the court that she feared she might have been drugged.
The victim told the court: “I woke on the beach with the light and the sea and the seagulls. The men were all spitting on me. I was asking them to stop and they wouldn’t. They were just laughing at me. They really thought it was funny. All I see is them laughing at me every time I close my eyes. It wasn’t consensual at all.”
She added: “Every day I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see them laughing at me, tormenting me.”
Al-Danasurt reportedly told the court he struggled to understand consent, saying: “Rape, to me, is sex.” He denied recording the videos as “trophies” to show off to other migrants at the hotel. Alshafe described slapping the unconscious woman across the face as “foreplay.” Ahmadi “posed for the boys” during the attack, according to prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC.
Ms Llewellyn-Waters told the court: “Frankly, to these defendants, the complainant was meat. She was repeatedly abused for their sexual gratification and entertainment. They wanted sex and that could be achieved by being with someone who was in no state to resist.”
How were the men caught?
The three men turned on each other in court, The Exprress understands — Alshafe even denied knowing Al-Danasurt despite being his roommate at the hotel. The judge had to intervene to tell the men to stop laughing and joking in the dock.
Ahmadi, whose asylum application had already allegedly been rejected before the attack, checked out of the hotel the following morning and travelled to Crewe, where officers arrested him on October 12. It later emerged Alshafe’s application had been rejected on the very day the group travelled to Brighton.
The trio will be sentenced on July 15. A separate charge of sharing intimate films without consent was withdrawn as it can only be heard in a magistrates’ court.
What has happened since the conviction?
The Home Office said it would move to deport all three men following sentencing, though removals could face legal challenges.
Border Security and Asylum Minister Alex Norris said: “What this woman endured is deeply disturbing, and I commend her bravery in coming forward and reporting these vile individuals. I share the public’s outrage in their horrendous actions. The perpetrators have now been rightly convicted. Once sentencing has taken place, we will move to deport them off British soil.”
Holly Morton, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was an utterly appalling and violent attack. These men targeted her in a cynical, predatory and callous way, dragging her to a secluded spot, before repeatedly raping her for their own sexual gratification. None of us can begin to imagine what she went through that night. Thanks to the victim’s bravery we have been able to bring these dangerous men to justice and ensure they cannot target women again.”
What did politicians say?
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Scumbags like this murderer and rapist — who is also an illegal immigrant — should not be put up in cushy hotels at taxpayers’ expense. This case shows that we have no idea what kind of men are entering the country by small boat — 70,000 of them since Keir Starmer became Prime Minister. We have seen terrorists, extremists, rapists and now a murderer coming in. British women and girls are being put at risk every day by these illegal immigrants. That’s why we need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and deport them all within a week of arrival.”
The Home Office said all asylum claimants undergo mandatory security checks to establish their identity and verify their records against international crime data, and that those checks had taken place in this case.