Man accused of filming rape 'telling lies', court told

A man who claimed that he filmed an alleged rape by two other men on Brighton beach because he was "trying to stop it" has been accused of telling a "pack of lies" in court.

Egyptian nationals Karin Al-Danasurt and Ibrahim Alshafe, plus Iranian national Abdulla Ahmadi, allegedly targeted a woman in the early hours of 4 October 2025.

All three men deny any wrongdoing.

During cross-examination at Hove Crown Court, Al-Danasurt, 20, denied allegations of spitting on the woman and laughing or encouraging his co-defendants during the incident.

Al-Danasurt had claimed that by capturing three videos, he was trying to get Alshafe and Ahmadi to stop and was attempting to "defend himself" so he could tell someone what happened.

Prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC questioned his tone in the videos and suggested that Al-Danasurt was telling a "pack of lies".

"I suggest what you've done in your evidence is put on a performance with a string of lies to hide your true involvement," she told the court.

Al-Dansurt said: "I'm telling the truth. If I wanted to lie, I would have said I didn't go to Brighton from the beginning."

The court heard that while filming, Al-Danasurt said "God will expose you" to the two other men, but Llewellyn-Waters said that an interpreter had claimed that the phrase could be used in a dismissive way.

He has also denied slapping the complainant.

Jurors have heard that Ahmadi told police that Al-Danasurt began slapping the woman and he spat in her mouth after the incident.

In court, Al-Danasurt said that Ahmadi would accuse him because he had given the video to police.

The court also heard that Al-Danasurt bought juice and croissants for his co-defendants after the ordeal, and about 12 hours later had a barbecue with them, despite claiming that Ahmadi had threatened him that evening.

He said that the barbecue was "their idea" and he did not refuse.

Jurors were told that at the time of the offences, all three men knew each other and lived at the same hotel near Horsham, West Sussex, which was Home Office-approved accommodation for asylum seekers.

Ahmadi, 26, an Iranian national living in Crewe, Cheshire, and Alshafe, 25, an Egyptian living in Horsham, each deny two counts of rape.

Al-Danasurt, an Egyptian living in Horsham, denies four counts of rape as a secondary party by "encouraging the rape by his actions at the scene, including filming it".

He also denies a fifth count of "sharing intimate films" without the complainant's consent.

The trial continues.

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