Afghan asylum-seeker who was put up in a Home Office hotel after crossing the Channel in a small boat is jailed for carrying a drunk woman into an alley and trying to sexually assault her

An asylum seeker who crossed the channel in a small boat has been jailed for carrying a drunken student into an alleyway and trying to sexually assault her.

Merwais Nasiri, 25, was living in a hotel after being moved to Exeter by the Home Office when he went out late at night and ended up prowling the street outside a nightclub.

Exeter Crown Court heard that the asylum seeker had a tragic background, having been a shepherd in Afghanistan until his father was killed by the Taliban and he and his mother became refugees. 

They moved to France where his mother died in 2022, which lead him to move to Britain to seek asylum. 

The victim is said to have struggled to complete her university studies and moved back into her parent's home because of the incident. 

Nasiri spotted the 20-year-old woman, who was so drunk that she was sat on a step opposite the club, in a semi-conscious state with her head in her arms.

He stayed with her for an hour and a quarter and posed as a Good Samaritan who was helping her when a street pastor came to check on her welfare.

He then waited until he thought the coast was clear before carrying her into an alley and moving a large commercial bin to block the entrance.

The victim was rescued by two bouncers who were alerted by a worker at a nearby take away who had spotted Nasiri abducting her. They moved the bin and found Nasiri on top of the helpless woman.

CCTV footage showed him with his arm around her, holding her up, and trying to move her twice before he succeeded in manhandling her into the alley. 

Earlier footage showed him prowling the city centre looking for potentially vulnerable women.

The doorman made a citizen's arrest before he had a chance to carry out a sexual assault but the kidnap has had a massive effect on the victim, who has struggled to complete her university studies and now feels so insecure that she has moved back home and abandoned her original plans for her career.

She had no memory of what had happened to her but was traumatised when she found out and had to undergo medical checks at a sexual assault clinic which she found 'absolutely horrible intrusive and unpleasant.'

She wrote an impact statement which said: 'When I saw the CCTV I was really shocked at the way he rested his head on my shoulder. 

'I felt dirty and disgusted when I saw the alley. When I saw the way he tried to conceal me in the alley I was mortified.

'It has left me feeling violated and abused. There is no excuse for what he did to me. The effect will stay with me for a long time.'

Nasiri of Topsham Road, Exeter, denied kidnap and intending to commit a sexual assault but was found guilty by a jury at Exeter Crown Court at a trial in January.

He was jailed for five and a half years with a four year extended licence by Judge Stephen Climie, who put him on the sex offenders' register for life and classified him as a dangerous offender.

He praised the courage of the victim and told Nasiri: 'This case is not about you. It is about a young woman of 20 who gave evidence before this court which demonstrated not just intelligence and composure but extraordinary dignity.

'She had been drinking and required assistance but that was the last thing on your mind. Having watched the CCTV, the one thing on your mind during that hour and a quarter was sexual activity,'

Mr Joss Ticehurst, prosecuting, said the victim had become detached from a group of friends she had been with in the early hours of July 1 last year and ended up sitting with her head between her legs on a step in Mary Arches Street.

Nasiri sat next to her for 75 minutes and told a street pastor that she did not need help and later carried her into the alley and blocked the entrance with the bin.

Mr Daniel Pawson-Pounds, defending, said Nasiri had a tragic background, having been a shepherd in Afghanistan until his father was killed by the Taliban and he and his mother became refugees.

They moved to France where his mother died in 2022, leading him to move to Britain to seek asylum. He was moved to Exeter and put up in a hotel by the Home Office.

He said there is nothing to suggest Nasiri planned to rape the woman and neither had their clothing undone when the door staff intervened. He had not made any threats at any stage.