Three men charged with rape have been told that they must stay in prison as they await their trial next spring.
The men, all asylum-seekers, appeared before a judge at Hove Crown Court this morning (Monday 8 December).
All three denied raping a woman on Brighton beach at about 5am on the morning of Saturday 4 October.
They were arrested by officers from Sussex Police after the force received a report that a woman had been raped on the lower esplanade in Brighton.
Karin Al-Danasurt, 20, an Egyptian, of Sandygate Lane, Lower Beeding, faces four counts of raping the same woman, all of which he denied.
Ibrahim Alshafe, 25, also Egyptian, and also of Sandygate Lane, Lower Beeding, and Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, an Iranian national, of Wistaston Road, Crewe, were each charged with two counts of raping the same woman.
The pair also denied all the charges which were brought after a police operation known as Op Brampton.
Al-Danasurt also denied a charge of sharing intimate images without consent.
The three defendants are due to face a trial by jury starting on Monday 16 March next year.
The trial is expected to last three weeks, with all the three defendants remanded in custody.
Via Kurdish and Arabic interpreters, Judge Jeremy Gold told them: “It is very important that you co-operate with your solicitors in the preparation of this trial.”
The defendants were due to be arraigned – or asked to formally answer the charges – at a hearing at Brighton Crown Court last month but only one interpreter was available.
Two of the men speak Arabic and the other is a Kurdish speaker. Recorder Neil Mercer adjourned the arraignment – also known as a plea hearing – until today.
If theyre guilty I hope they’ll be deported.
Asylum seekers, from Egypt… A country thousands of us go on Holiday to. And they wonder why people get annoyed with it all.
They should have been taken straight to Gatwick rather than been put up at great expense, and some poor woman’s life wouldn’t have been destroyed. Boris and co have a lot to answer for but the immigration scandal is up there.
But equally we have a very serious problem in this country with human rights lawyers abusing tax payers money with legal aid claims, defending people that really shouldn’t be here. Unfortunately they have created this hostility towards genuine asylum seekers.
You’re an idiot! Not condoning for one second the alleged actions but just because Egypt is safe for western tourists doesn’t mean it’s safe for all Egyptians. He’s entitled to claim asylum but not entitled to break our laws. If guilty he will be sent to prison and deported at end of sentence. Not great but that’s the law! Feel free to try and change it!