Afghan asylum seeker jailed for raping teenager in Elgin park | UK News

An Afghan asylum seeker who raped a teenage girl in a park has been jailed for nine years.

Rapualla Ahmadze – who claimed he was an escaped prisoner of the Taliban – attacked the 17-year-old in Cooper Park in Elgin, Moray, in August last year.

Ahmadze – who is believed to be 21 – had denied rape, claiming that sex was consensual, but was previously found guilty.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Thomas Welsh KC said it was a “shocking and violent” attack.

Ahmadze had carried out the assault after approaching the girl and making “intimidating” remarks.

He claimed he was out in the early hours of the morning because he was hungry and looking for food.

He was convicted of rape and a separate charge of threatening or abusive behaviour.

On Tuesday, the court was told there was a dispute about his age but it was stated he would have been about 20 at the time of the attack.

Defence counsel Shaun Alexander said Ahmadze was born in Afghanistan.

He said that as a young teenager he was conscripted by his uncle into the Afghan national army, but was captured by the Taliban after they took control.

Ahmadze said he was held in prison but managed to escape with several other prisoners, although he was shot in the arm.

Mr Alexander said he then made “a long and arduous journey” before arriving in the UK in 2023.

The defence counsel said: “He arrived with nothing. He had no family, no friends, no support network.”

The defence counsel said a custodial sentence was inevitable but added: “He faces deportation to a country where his life will be at risk.”

The judge told Ahmadze: “You were unanimously disbelieved by the jury in relation to your defence of consent.

“You were convicted by the jury on the basis that you acted in a predatory manner and took advantage of a vulnerable teenager who was unknown to you, and you raped her in shocking and violent rape on rough ground in Cooper Park.

“What happened to her that night must have been a horrific ordeal.”

He said he read a victim impact statement prepared in the case and noted the “shocking, overwhelming impact your violent, brutal abuse has had on your innocent victim”.

He imposed a total sentence of nine years, backdated to August last year.

Ahmadze has been placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Det Insp Sam Buchan, of Police Scotland, said: “Rapualla Ahmadze is a predatory individual who took advantage of a vulnerable young woman for his own gratification.

“He will now face the consequences of his actions.

“We know this was a deeply worrying incident for many people in the local area and I hope this conviction and sentence sends a strong message that sexual violence has no place in our communities.”