'Sexual predator' small boat migrant admits raping 'intoxicated' woman in alleyway

The 20-year-old, thought to originally be from Egypt, was due to stand trial for rape next week, however on Thursday at a short hearing during which he was assisted by an Egyptian Arabic interpreter, he changed his plea to guilty and also admitted sexually assaulting the woman.

Witnesses described his victim as "completely out of it" when she became separated from her friends during a pub crawl in York during the early hours of July 6.

Prosecutor Chimwemwe Chabwera told the preliminary hearing at York Magistrates' Court that the woman "recalls little of what happened before and after the incident".

During the evening, she left her friends and ended up in the Vudu Lounge, however "she doesn't remember what happened after that".

Ms Chabwera said: "The next thing she remembers is being outside her front door with an unknown male.

"She wasn't wearing any trousers or knickers [and] her bag was missing. She was unable to remember the code for her [door] key safe.

"She remembers being in the Shambles Marketplace with the same male.

"She got her bag and trousers back but not her knickers. Her trousers were dirty but not damaged."

Two brothers later found the woman partially naked in Shambles Market looking "visibly distressed and confused".

The men helped her find her bag and phone before flagging down a passing police van.

The prosecutor added that the victim told officers she was not sure what had happened but "felt like she had had a sexual encounter", something which frightened her because she could not remember it.

Ms Chabwera said: "She is clear that she would not have consented to having sex with someone she had just met on a night out and having sex in a public location.

"She had bruising to her right arm and thigh."

The prosecution's case centred on Najjar being a "sexual predator" who targeted a vulnerable, lone woman.

Security at the Vudu Lounge said he was notorious for approaching lone women at the bar and had been seen doing so on multiple occasions.

Najjar was arrested at his home in York and originally gave a fake name before confirming his true identity after authorities carried out checks.

Ms Chabwera said: "Najjar entered the country illegally in a small boat in 2022. He is a failed asylum seeker; he has no right to remain."

Representing Najjar at the preliminary hearing in July, Graham Parkin claimed that although his client's asylum claim had been closed, the Immigration Services told him there was no plan to remove him from the country at that time.

At the hearing on Thursday, Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, adjourned the sentence to December for a probation report.

He told Najjar: "A custodial sentence in this case is inevitable. It's just a question of how long."

Mohammed Abrahim Abuzet, 25, of Bradford, was originally also arrested and charged with rape in relation to the incident, however these charges have since been dropped.

GB News approached the Home Office for comment.