A migrant who kidnapped and sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl in a taxpayer-funded hotel in west London has been jailed after a court heard he had previously said in an asylum application that he had worked with the Taliban since he was 10. Afsar Safi, 30, was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court after being found guilty of kidnapping and sexual assault.
The attack took place at the hotel in Acton in September, when Safi lured the child away from her mother with an apple and dragged her down a corridor by the arm before taking her into his hotel room. The girl escaped after attracting the attention of security staff, and later told jurors she was too scared to tell him to go away and believed he was always coming after her.
In her evidence, the child said the assault left her frightened and unable to sleep properly, adding that her nightmares felt real and made her cry. Safi was also placed on the sex offenders register for seven years, though he could be released on licence in six months.
During sentencing, the court heard that Safi’s asylum application stated he had been associated with the Taliban from the age of ten. His asylum claim was refused and he is now appealing that decision. He had arrived in the UK in 2021, and his barrister claimed he had previously been taken by the Taliban as a slave and had only three years of education.
Safi, speaking through a Pashto interpreter, told the court he liked children and said he kissed the girl “out of the love for children”, claiming that in his home country “all the people do that”. He also said he had not meant any harm. The judge rejected that account and jailed him for two and a half years, after which he must comply with sex offender requirements.
The case has prompted alarm because the offence took place inside accommodation funded by taxpayers and used to house asylum seekers. It also raised questions over Safi’s background, because his own paperwork had linked him to the Taliban from a young age, yet he was still able to enter the UK and remain in the asylum system while his claim was being considered.
The victim’s account was central to the prosecution, and her evidence described lasting fear and trauma following the assault. The sentence means Safi remains liable for deportation proceedings after serving his term.