Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Asylum Seeker Jailed for Kidnapping and Sexually Assaulting Girl, 7, at London Hotel

The case renews focus on safeguards in hotels used to house asylum seekers.

Overview

  • Isleworth Crown Court on Saturday sentenced Afsar Safi, 30, to two and a half years in prison after a jury convicted him of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a seven-year-old.
  • The assault happened in September at a hotel in Acton, West London, where he lured the child from her mother with an apple and dragged her along a corridor before she got help from security staff.
  • Safi will be on the sex offenders register for seven years, and reports say he could be released on licence after about six months.
  • His asylum application said he had been with the Taliban since age ten, he arrived in the UK in 2021, and his refused claim is now under appeal.
  • The girl told the court she remains scared and has nightmares about the attack, describing how she felt unable to tell him to go away.