Brighton beach rapist jailed

A man has been jailed for six years and nine months years for raping a woman on the beach in Brighton as a judge told him: “Your actions were bestial and depraved.”

Ali Mozaffari, 37, pleaded guilty to rape just days before he was due to face a trial by jury. He later tried to change his plea but his application was refused.

Mozaffari, 37, a carpenter, of Golders Green Road, Golders Green, north London, saw another man, Isaac Cid-Lopez, have sex with the woman at about 5.30am on Sunday 10 September 2023.

When Cid-Lopez finished, he got up and walked away, leaving the woman naked from the waist down and having stolen her phone.

They had met earlier in a night club, Lewes Crown Court was told. She had been drinking heavily and did not appear to be conscious to witnesses.

Mozafarri then went down the beach, by the King’s Road Arches, and raped the woman in full view of a number of astonished witnesses.

Some of them called 999 and minutes later the police arrived and caught Mozaffari in the act.

James Oliveira-Agnew, prosecuting, said: “In the body-worn video of PC Luiza Rich and PC Scott Campbell is visible, lying naked from the waist down on the beach.

“Mr Mozaffari appears to be shocked by the officers and then pretends to be asleep for a number of minutes.

“The body-worn video of PC Phoebe Palmer and PC Alexander Finn shows the initial contact with the victim.

“She does not respond at all for a number of seconds and, when she does speak to police, she appears to be very dazed and confused.

“At this initial stage and indeed until quite late into proceedings the victim is not aware that the man who has been arrested is not the same man who had been at the night club with her earlier – Mr Cid-Lopez.

“Mr Mozaffari was arrested and interviewed. He said that he had seen the victim having sex minutes before. He suggested that the man having sex with her had told him that he was next.

“He felt bad for the woman as he knew she was really drunk and so went back to help. He stated that he tried to put her clothes on.”

Mozaffari told police that she took hold of him and told him she was “open for fun” and “very horny”.

Mr Oliveira-Agnew said: “Mr Mozaffari watched Mr Cid-Lopez leave and then walked over to the victim who was half naked and unresponsive. He then proceeded to have sexual intercourse with her and was only stopped by the arrival of police.

“The victim was at best asleep when Mr Mozaffari approached and that she did not make any response to what was happening around her until shortly after police arrived and had arrested the defendant.”

A urine sample taken within the hour showed that the victim was well over the drink driving limit for alcohol, with more than three times the permitted amount in her body.

She had 347 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of urine. The drink driving limit is 107 micrograms.

When Mozaffari was tested eight hours after his arrest, he had less than 10 micrograms. His sample also showed that he had taken opioids including methadone.

The other man, Isaac Cid-Lopez, 23, a support worker, of Radbourne Crescent, in London, was acquitted of rape after an eight-day trial which started at Lewes on Wednesday 28 February last year.

The trial was told that Cid-Lopez met the woman in Tide, a club on Brighton seafront, a short distance from where she was raped.

Cid-Lopez said that she had bought him a drink and he said that they had sex on the beach later with her consent.

He pleaded guilty to stealing her mobile phone and was given a conditional discharge.

James Dunstan, defending Mozaffari, said: “He was 16 when he left his family in Iran to come here.”

Mr Dunstan said that he trained as a carpenter and had always worked and had never previously been in trouble with the police.

Since his arrest, his father had died and his mother had suffered a heart attack and was “in a state of desolation”.

Judge Martin Huseyin said: “(The victim) was almost completely helpless. You were a complete stranger to her, simply passing by, but seeing what the other man had been doing to her and seeing how vulnerable and alone she was, instead of helping her or, at the very least, leaving her alone, you raped her.

“Your actions were bestial and depraved.”

Judge Huseyin told Mozaffari that he had lied to the police, saying that the woman had initiated the sexual activity and denying that he had raped her.

The judge said: “Another man is also to blame for the impact of this incident upon her. He may have been found not guilty by a jury but you and he share the blame equally for the impact.

“The sociable confident person she was has now changed to someone unable to go out alone in a social environment.

“She has suffered significant stress which has triggered the return of a serious health condition, leaving her bedridden for days and weeks at a time.

“This has affected her ability to work which has affected her financially. She contracted infections and she was saddened, ashamed and embarrassed that friends she met that evening for the first time in many years became involved in the investigation.

“It was an additional humiliation that she should be raped in broad daylight in a public place in view of members of the public. Your victim was particularly vulnerable because of her state of extreme intoxication.

“Only a custodial sentence can be justified and this is the least I can impose having regard to all the circumstances.”

After the sentence hearing on Wednesday, Sussex Police said: “Mozafarri was arrested at the scene but pretended to fall unconscious and had to be taken to a police vehicle and into custody. His collapse was swiftly proven to be simulated.

“The victim was taken to a place of safety and supported by specialist officers while an investigation was launched.

“Mozaffari was subsequently charged with rape and remanded in custody.

“He pleaded guilty at Lewes Crown Court on Friday 2 February 2024. He appeared again at Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday (22 January), where he was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison.”

Judge Huseyin commended two witnesses who separately called the police and provided evidence – Shak Afsun and Erion Basha – as well as the officer in the case, Detective Constable Clare Byrnes.

He recommended that they each receive a High Sheriff’s award of £500.

The judge said: “Both men provided the police with invaluable evidence and showed commendable public spirit in being prepared to come to court.”

He praised Detective Constable Byrnes for “diligent and determined detective work” in building the case against Mozaffari – saving the victim from having to give evidence at a second trial – and tracking down Cid-Lopez.

The judge added: “This was detective work of the highest order.”

Detective Constable Clare Byrnes said: “Ali Mozaffari preyed on a vulnerable woman who had every right to feel safe in a public space.

“Thanks to the quick thinking of witnesses at the scene and rapid response from our officers, he was located while committing the offence and taken into custody.

“The victim in this investigation has shown immense courage to support the process, while living with the impacts of her ordeal, and has helped bring a dangerous predator to justice.”

Detective Chief Inspector Neil Phillips, of Brighton’s Safeguarding Investigations Unit, said: “Brighton is a safe place but appalling incidents such as these reinforce why we and our partners take policing the night-time economy so seriously.

“We have a wide range of safety measures in place to protect vulnerable people and catch perpetrators, should the worst happen, and thankfully incidents such as these are a rare occurrence.

“As a force we have made significant improvements to how we investigate reports of rape and support victims. That is helping us bring more offenders to justice and provide victims with the help they deserve.

“If you are a victim of crime or see something suspicious, please report online, via 101 or dial 999 in an emergency.”