Afghan Asylum Seeker Convicted of Brutally Raping Teenage Girl in Elgin Park

Image: Jihad Watch

An Afghan asylum seeker named Rapualla Ahmadze, also known as Rafiullah Ahmadzai, was convicted of raping a vulnerable 17-year-old girl in a brutal assault at Cooper Park in Elgin, Moray, Scotland. The incident took place in the early hours of August 4, 2024, when Ahmadze, who had been captured on CCTV wandering the streets of Elgin, approached the teenager as she sat alone on a bench. Described as bearded and speaking with a foreign accent, he asked her if she had a boyfriend; upon her negative response, he boldly declared himself as her boyfriend and pulled her up from the bench.

The victim, who was dealing with mental health challenges and often took nighttime walks to listen to music as a coping mechanism, felt trapped and fearful. Ahmadze wrapped an arm around her waist while inappropriately touching her breast, guiding her toward a nearby playpark area. She attempted to break free three times during the walk but was yanked back each time, heightening her anxiety about provoking his anger. Once at a tunnel structure in the park, he shoved her to the ground and sexually assaulted her. He then moved her to adjacent bushes, forcing her down again with both hands on her shoulders, pinning her on her back, and proceeding to rape her despite her repeated pleas of "no," which he completely disregarded. She also reported being compelled to perform oral sex during the ordeal.

The assault concluded when the victim noticed a passerby, 28-year-old John Donald, nearby on a path. She raised her voice to attract his attention and approached him in a state of extreme distress, physically trembling, sobbing, and hyperventilating as if struggling to breathe. Donald observed a clear physical disparity, describing her as petite compared to Ahmadze's larger build, and noted her palpable fear. He assisted her in seeking help, recommending she go to Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin, where she reported the attack to staff, who then notified the police. She had also contacted a friend shortly after to disclose that she had been raped.

Ahmadze, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan who had been housed in an Elgin hotel before being relocated, denied the allegations during his trial at the High Court in Edinburgh. Speaking through an interpreter, he insisted the encounter was consensual, claiming the victim was eager and initiated the sexual activity, and that he had been out late simply because he was hungry and searching for a pizza place. However, the jury unanimously convicted him of the rape charge, as well as two separate counts of threatening behavior that occurred between March 1 and April 30, 2024, at a residence in Dufftown, Moray, where he aggressively demanded money and a replacement shower. Trial judge Thomas Welsh KC emphasized that imprisonment was unavoidable, remanding Ahmadze in custody and adding him to the sex offenders' register pending a full background report and risk assessment for sentencing the following month.

Significant discrepancies emerged regarding Ahmadze's age throughout the proceedings. In court, he asserted he was born in 2007, making him 18 at the time of the trial. During a prior police interview, he couldn't recall his birth date but estimated he was 17 during the incident. Immigration records, however, listed his birth as January 2004, suggesting he was around 20 years old when the rape occurred. These inconsistencies were highlighted but did not alter the guilty verdict.

(This Article was originally published by Jihad Watch)