Man raped woman on Brighton beach then pretended to be unconscious to avoid arrest
A man who raped a vulnerable woman on a Brighton Beach in front of horrified onlookers and later pretended he was unconscious to avoid being arrested has been jailed for six years.
Ali Mozaffari, 37, of Golders Green, London, was seen raping a woman on the beach, west of Brighton Palace Pier, at around 5.40am on September 10, 2023.
Witnesses called the police, who soon afterwards caught Mozafarri in the act and arrested him on the scene.
Mozaffari then pretended to fall unconscious and had to be taken to a police vehicle and into custody – but his collapse was quickly proven to be a bluff.
After pleading guilty in February, Mozafarri appeared at Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday and was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison.
In a press release about the case, which was published yesterday, Detective Constable Clare Byrnes of Sussex Police says: ‘Ali Mozaffari preyed on a vulnerable woman who had every right to feel safe in a public space.
‘Thanks to the quick thinking of witnesses at the scene, and rapid response from our officers, he was located while committing the offence and taken into custody.
‘The victim in this investigation has shown immense courage to support the process, while living with the impacts of her ordeal, and has helped bring a dangerous predator to justice.’
After Mozafarri’s sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Neil Phillips of Brighton’s Safeguarding Investigations Unit, said: ‘Brighton is a safe place, but appalling incidents such as these reinforce why we and our partners take policing the night-time economy so seriously.
‘We have a wide range of safety measures in place to protect vulnerable people and catch perpetrators, should the worst happen, and thankfully incidents such as these are a rare occurrence.
‘As a force we have made significant improvements to how we investigate reports of rape and support victims. That is helping us bring more offenders to justice and provide victims with the help they deserve.
‘If you are a victim of crime, or see something suspicious, please report online, via 101 or dial 999 in an emergency.’
More than 11 million visit Bright each year, according to VisitBrighton, making it a hotspot for criminals seeking to target tourists.
Last year, Brighton & Hove Council said that police recorded 1,239 sexual offences in the area in 2021/22, with the majority of victims being women and girls.
More than 1,077 were serious sexual offences, including 397 rape offences, while 463 incidents of stalking were also recorded by the police.
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