Three men who raped a 17-year-old girl before escaping from the UK to France in the back of a lorry have been jailed for a total of 33 years. Mehrab Safi, 21, Salman Habibkheil and Awal Ahmadzai, both 19, and a 17-year-old boy plied the girl with alcohol after she had been persuaded to travel into Bristol alone, and all four raped her at a house in the city. Safi was found guilty of two counts of rape, and Habibkheil of one.
Both were convicted of arranging or facilitating the travel of a female with a view to exploitation. Ahmadzai was found guilty of one count of rape and one of sexual assault. The 17-year-old was convicted of one count of rape.
Safi was jailed for 15 years while Habibkheil and Ahmadzai were jailed for nine years. The 17-year-old was sentenced to two years and seven months in a youth detention centre. The victim had met Safi in Bristol during a trip she made in November 2025 to do some Christmas shopping with a friend – her first trip to the city from her home in Somerset, Bristol crown court heard.
Immediately after they left, Safi began messaging the girl. He told her he loved her and asked her to send indecent images. Four days later, Safi, in collaboration with Habibkheil, arranged for her to be collected by a taxi and brought into Bristol.
She was taken to his house where she was raped over several hours. The victim’s mother reported her missing and police found her and the 17-year-old boy at Safi’s house. As officers arrived, the three men fled, eventually managing to make their way across the Channel in the back of lorry carrying frozen goods.
Footage from Safi’s mobile phone showed the men laughing and gesticulating in the back of the lorry, which the prosecution suggested showed they thought they had escaped. But they were swiftly arrested in France and returned to the UK. The girl had been raped five times by the four offenders.
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