Three asylum-seeking men accused of raping a woman on Brighton beach have been ordered to remain in custody as they await trial next spring.
The defendants appeared separately before a judge at Hove Crown Court on Monday (8 December), where they each denied a series of charges relating to an alleged attack on the Lower Esplanade in the early hours of Saturday 4 October.
Sussex Police were called to the seafront at around 5am following a report that a woman had been raped. Officers arrested three men shortly afterwards as part of an investigation known as Operation Brampton.
Karin Al-Danasurt, 20, an Egyptian national living in Sandygate Lane, Lower Beeding, faces four counts of raping the same woman. He also pleaded not guilty to a further charge of sharing intimate images without consent.
Two other men – fellow Egyptian national Ibrahim Alshafe, 25, also of Sandygate Lane, Lower Beeding, and Iranian national Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, of Wistaston Road, Crewe – each denied two counts of rape.
All three men, who the Home Office confirmed arrived in the UK via small boats and are awaiting decisions on their asylum claims.
A three-week jury trial has now been scheduled to begin on Monday 16 March next year. The defendants have been remanded in custody until a pre-trial review due in December.
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