ianstone
09-27-2010, 08:23 AM
Pakistani people-smuggler goes on trial for raping British journalism student in Calais
By Ian Sparks (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Ian+Sparks)
Last updated at 11:36 AM on 27th September 2010
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315515/Pakistani-people-smuggler-trial-raping-British-journalism-student-Calais.html)
A Pakistani people-smuggler accused of raping a London journalism student in a squalid woodland camp in Calais will go on trial in France today.
Sher Hassan Jaabar - who says his 'only dream is to settle in Britain' - is charged with raping the 31-year-old woman after she travelled to northern France to interview British-bound migrants.
The woman said she was taking photos of illegal immigrants when she was lured into a makeshift hut by a people-trafficking gang leader who had agreed to pose for pictures.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/27/article-1315515-03DBA908000005DC-565_468x286.jpg The woman claims she was attacked after being lured into a makeshift hut in a squalid woodland camp in Calais (file picture)
But the young student - who is Canadian but lived in Britain most of her life - alleges she was then pinned down by 20-year-old Jaabar and another man, punched repeatedly and subjected to a half-hour rape.
Although she screamed for help, no one came to her aid in the attack in the northern French port in August 2008, she told police at the time.
The woman - can not be named for legal reasons - said she managed to escape after her ordeal and flee on foot from the woodland shanty town known as the jungle.
The camp was bulldozed by French police a year ago and more than 200 migrants were arrested, but almost all were later freed on humanitarian grounds.
The woman - who had been warned by police not to set foot in the jungle camp - later gave detectives a description of two middle eastern men in their 20s who she claimed had attacked her.
But Jabaar was only arrested two months later, 20 miles away in the port of Dunkirk, after a massive police hunt. The second alleged attacker was never caught.
DNA tests later 'conclusively proved' Jabaar had been involved in a sexual act with the woman, police said.
A Dunkirk police spokesman added at the time: 'The DNA found on the victim matches that of our suspect.
'We also suspect he has been organising the trafficking of migrants across the Channel.
'He denies this and has insisted he is a refugee who only wants to settle in Britain.'
Jabaar - who also uses the name Afsnar Navaz - has admitted to police while in custody over the past two years that he had sex with the woman, but denies rape and claims she consented.
His trial at the Saint-Omer correctional court begins today and is expected to last three days. He faces ten years in prison if convicted of rape.
There are still an estimated 1,000 migrants massed on the northern French coast, with up to 50 a week thought to be crossing the Channel illegally and more arriving in the town to replace them every day.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315515/Pakistani-people-smuggler-trial-raping-British-journalism-student-Calais.html#ixzz10jRadBLr
By Ian Sparks (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&authornamef=Ian+Sparks)
Last updated at 11:36 AM on 27th September 2010
Add to My Stories (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315515/Pakistani-people-smuggler-trial-raping-British-journalism-student-Calais.html)
A Pakistani people-smuggler accused of raping a London journalism student in a squalid woodland camp in Calais will go on trial in France today.
Sher Hassan Jaabar - who says his 'only dream is to settle in Britain' - is charged with raping the 31-year-old woman after she travelled to northern France to interview British-bound migrants.
The woman said she was taking photos of illegal immigrants when she was lured into a makeshift hut by a people-trafficking gang leader who had agreed to pose for pictures.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/09/27/article-1315515-03DBA908000005DC-565_468x286.jpg The woman claims she was attacked after being lured into a makeshift hut in a squalid woodland camp in Calais (file picture)
But the young student - who is Canadian but lived in Britain most of her life - alleges she was then pinned down by 20-year-old Jaabar and another man, punched repeatedly and subjected to a half-hour rape.
Although she screamed for help, no one came to her aid in the attack in the northern French port in August 2008, she told police at the time.
The woman - can not be named for legal reasons - said she managed to escape after her ordeal and flee on foot from the woodland shanty town known as the jungle.
The camp was bulldozed by French police a year ago and more than 200 migrants were arrested, but almost all were later freed on humanitarian grounds.
The woman - who had been warned by police not to set foot in the jungle camp - later gave detectives a description of two middle eastern men in their 20s who she claimed had attacked her.
But Jabaar was only arrested two months later, 20 miles away in the port of Dunkirk, after a massive police hunt. The second alleged attacker was never caught.
DNA tests later 'conclusively proved' Jabaar had been involved in a sexual act with the woman, police said.
A Dunkirk police spokesman added at the time: 'The DNA found on the victim matches that of our suspect.
'We also suspect he has been organising the trafficking of migrants across the Channel.
'He denies this and has insisted he is a refugee who only wants to settle in Britain.'
Jabaar - who also uses the name Afsnar Navaz - has admitted to police while in custody over the past two years that he had sex with the woman, but denies rape and claims she consented.
His trial at the Saint-Omer correctional court begins today and is expected to last three days. He faces ten years in prison if convicted of rape.
There are still an estimated 1,000 migrants massed on the northern French coast, with up to 50 a week thought to be crossing the Channel illegally and more arriving in the town to replace them every day.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315515/Pakistani-people-smuggler-trial-raping-British-journalism-student-Calais.html#ixzz10jRadBLr