Woman kidnapped from Bristol street at 4pm and gang-raped, court told
Friday, December 04, 2009, 07:00
A woman was dragged into a car on a busy Bristol street before being driven to a park and raped by five men, a court heard.
Bristol Crown Court was told the 25-year-old victim experienced ‘every woman’s nightmare’ when she was bundled into the car in daylight as she walked to a takeaway in Fishponds.
Crown Prosecutor James Patrick told a jury the attack was “almost the stuff of horror movies” before describing how the woman was pinned down and raped by each of the five strangers on a football pitch in Eastville Park.
The court heard Afghan asylum seeker Ahadullah Khughiani, 19, of no fixed abode, and four other foreign men “laughed and joked” as they forced the woman out of their car and into the park during the late afternoon of November 26 last year. The woman told the court she was distraught when dog walkers failed to notice her struggling with the men as they led her away and pushed her onto the muddy ground to carry out the attack.
Opening the prosecution case, Mr Patrick said the victim had walked alone for 20 minutes from her home in Staple Hill towards KFC in Fishponds Road when she heard a man shouting at her from a car at 4.15pm.
He said: “She heard someone shout ‘10 pounds for all of us?’ She understood that by that he was asking for sex and told them she wasn’t looking for sex.
“She tried to ignore them but the car continued to follow her before it came to a stop. She saw three men get out of the back of the car and they grabbed her and put her in it. She was fighting them and was pushed face down as they drove down towards Eastville Park and she continued to struggle.
“By the time they got there it was dark. Men got out of the car and she was pulled out by her legs and pushed into the park itself. She was struggling and trying to escape and tried to alert passers-by but without success. She was walked some distance into the middle of the park near some goal posts when she was pushed onto the ground and was raped by all five of the men, one by one. When they had finished, they took her coat and mobile phone and ran off.
“She went back to her boyfriend at home and initially was too distraught to tell him what had happened.”
Mr Patrick said the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, contacted the police the next day and swabs were taken from her to check for DNA.
The prosecutor said the DNA found matched the DNA taken from Khughiani when he arrived in Britain in 2008 seeking asylum. Mr Patrick said Khughiani, who was receiving benefits, was arrested on December 2 and the victim’s Nokia mobile phone was found during a search of his home.
When interviewed by police, Khughiani denied any involvement in the rape but admitted having sex with a prostitute a few days earlier and paying 10 pounds.
A jury of nine men and three women heard how Khughiani, who denies rape, kidnap and stealing the victim’s coat and mobile phone, was also picked out by her in an identification procedure as one of the five rapists. Khughiani is the only alleged attacker who has been brought to court.
In the witness box, the victim said she was positioned in a foot well across the passengers’ legs on the back seat as the gang’s car was driven to Eastville Park. She said: “When they parked, they were trying to drag me out. I was trying to stay in the car because I didn’t know what was going to happen.
They were all talking in a foreign language and laughing and joking. I was telling them to get off.
“I had been shouting and screaming and I remember them dragging me out of the car by my legs. Then the two men in the front seats got out and walked along as the three men in the back dragged me along into the park by my arms.
“There were a couple of people out with their dogs in the park. They must have heard me and I was angry no one phoned the police.”
The case continues.