Two teenage asylum seekers were sentenced yesterday for the rape of a 15-year-old girl in Warwickshire, with court proceedings revealing distressing details of the assault and footage so graphic that one defense lawyer warned it could provoke public disorder if released.

Jan Jahanzeb and Israr Niazal, both aged 17 and originally from Afghanistan, had arrived in the United Kingdom only months prior, crossing the Channel in small boats. They committed the attack on May 10 in a park in Leamington Spa. The victim filmed parts of the incident on her phone, capturing her being forcibly taken from a group of friends and subjected to sexual assault in a secluded area.

The three-minute video, played in full at Warwick Crown Court, includes the girl’s cries for help and expressions of fear as she is pulled away. She can be heard pleading, “you’re going to rape me,” and screaming “help” while fleeing from her attackers. After the assault, she recorded additional clips explaining what had happened. A passer-by later found her and escorted her to a police station, enabling officers to collect crucial forensic evidence.

In a statement read during sentencing, the victim described the attack as a life-changing event that stripped away her innocence, saying, “The day I was raped changed me as a person. I’m no longer a happy, carefree teenager. This was my first sexual experience.”

Judge Sylvia de Bertodano handed down prison terms of ten years and eight months to Jahanzeb and nine years and ten months to Niazal. She remarked that their actions disserved genuine refugees and called on the men to feel "a deep and lasting sense of shame." The judge added, “No child should have to suffer the ordeal [the victim] has suffered. The fact is, you two have robbed her of her childhood.”

The court also approved a legal challenge permitting the identification of the defendants, who had previously been unnamed due to their ages. Jahanzeb faces deportation following his release, whereas Niazal is not subject to deportation because he pleaded guilty just before turning 17, the threshold for such measures.

Notably, Niazal’s defense counsel, Joshua Radcliffe, described the footage shown in court as “genuinely horrific,” cautioning that its exposure to the wider public could incite disorder.

At the time of the attack, both defendants were living in government-funded accommodation as asylum seekers. They admitted the charges in October, leading to the trial and subsequent sentencing.