Canterbury Crown Court jails 4 for gang-rape of teenage girl who sought their help after getting lost

The Canterbury Crown Court jailed three men for 14 years each and a teenage boy for seven years after they were convicted of raping a girl who got lost on her way to a friend's house in Kent.

They fulfilled their "depraved sexual desires" on the 16-year-old girl, the court stated while delivering the verdict in the 2016 gang-rape case.

The victim had sought help from the group to locate a friend's house in Ramsgate, Kent, where she was headed after a night out with friends. Instead of helping her with directions, the men reportedly took her to one of the accused's house and took turns in raping her, the Kent police said in a statement on Friday (8 September).

After sexually assaulting the girl, they dumped her on the street, where two people found her crying and reported to the police.

Sentencing Judge Heather Norton said the "young, drunk, disorientated and vulnerable" girl was attacked by the four whom she thought were going to help, but instead they "took her up to a bedroom, pushed her on to a mattress and repeatedly raped her" over a sustained period, the BBC reported.

She also said that the girl clearly stated in her complaint that while one person raped her, the others stayed in the room watching the assault.

"This was an appalling and repeated gang rape of a vulnerable girl who had sought your assistance," Judge Norton told the defendants.

The three men were identified as Rafiullah Hamidy, 24, of Herne Bay; Shershah Muslimyar, 21, of Canterbury, and Tamin Rahmani, 38, of Ramsgate. All the accused had denied the charges of rape, but were found guilty by a jury in May.

The crime was reportedly committed at Rahmani's home, who lives in the UK under a spousal visa. He was the first to be arrested on 18 September 2016, followed by Muslimyar three days later. The 17-year-old was arrested on 5 December 2016, police said.

Hamidy had fled to Taranto in southern Italy after the attack, but was detained by local officers and extradited to the UK in March.

"Officers carried out extensive enquiries into the incident and were able to link the defendants through forensic evidence and CCTV of their movements beforehand," Kent police added.