A jealous student and his friends kidnapped an innocent woman, took her to a secluded area and attacked her.
Best friends Nadia Gubran and Alya Dahshan, both 21, conspired to kidnap the victim, whom Gubran suspected had been exchanging Snapchat messages with a man she was attracted to. They recruited another woman, 20-year-old Layla Obad, to help with the terrifying ambush. .
The team tracked the 23-year-old victim to his workplace on the evening of March 21 last year and then followed him as he drove towards Hartington Road in Liverpool in Gubran’s Volkswagen Golf. They grabbed him from behind and pulled his hood over his face, then dragged him into the car and pinned him in the backseat. His phone was seized and he was interrogated by Gubran, who forced him to give his PIN code, the Liverpool ECHO reported.
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Prosecutor Michael Scholes, who opened the case at Liverpool Crown Court on April 18, said: “Gubran in particular was aggressive, calling him an idiot and a slag and warning him not to associate with Arabs and also grilling him about Arabs. He had been in contact with a man called Sol.” the nature of the relationship.
“It was stated that Gubran was really aggressive and intimidating towards the victim, threatening her by saying that he knew where she lived and that there were people watching her in the area.”
They went to a secluded, wooded area near the Sefton Park Palm House; There the victim was pushed into the bushes and punched and kicked in the head by Gubran and Dahshan. The two women then fled the scene, leaving behind Obad, who apologized to the victim.
While the mobile phone footage of the attack taken by Dahşan was shown to the court, all three women cried in the defendant’s chair. The photo showed the victim lying on the ground in a forested area, punched and kicked repeatedly.
One of the attackers was heard shouting at him: “Yes, yes, yes, go away. Chat is shit. Don’t mess with the Arabs next time, okay. Damn it.” “Look at the camera and say, you won’t mess with the Arabs.”
Two more videos were played, taken at an earlier stage, of the victim lying face down in the backseat of the car and being punched by Gubran.
After the horrific incident, the victim asked for help from a passerby who called a taxi to take him home. He called the police and when officers arrived at his home, he used his tablet to disable his missing cell phone. It was then that she realized she had received an Instagram message from a man saying he had found her phone in Sefton Park.
The man tracked down James Galvin and told police Obad approached him, told him Obad had “done something terrible” to him, and begged him for help returning the victim’s phone. Mr Scholes said: “It is clear that she had no knowledge of what had happened. As a result, police were able to track down Layla Obad and the other participants who were subsequently arrested.”
Gubran, a real estate student, initially maintained his innocence, claiming he was at university at the time of the attack. But messages sent from his phone on March 20 and 21 revealed that he and Dahshan had planned the kidnapping as they discussed how they could force the victim into their car. One of the messages read: “Gloves. Bally (wool). Go look for the perfect spot. We’re going to grab him, we’re going to grab him from behind and we need someone to grab him from behind.”
All three women eventually pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and appeared in court for sentencing on Friday, April 26.
Jo Maxwell, defending Gubran, said: “He is truly remorseful for what he did and that incident and it is something he would never want to involve himself with again. “This was a very stupid but very serious reaction to the jealousy he felt.
“He was 20 years old at the time and is still finding his way in the world. He has a close and loving family who, like him, are horrified by what he has done. He is trying to improve his qualifications; he has already undertaken a few of these. He is a great contributor to society and wants to support his family, aiming to find a well-paying job in the future “The effect of an immediate prison sentence will be that he cannot complete the course and the two years he has undertaken so far will have to be read over.”
He described Gubran as “immature” and “unable to solve problems appropriately”, but Judge David Aubrey KC said: “She’s an intelligent woman. She’s in her second year at university. She certainly knows the difference between right and right.” and it was wrong. “I have a hard time accepting that she is an immature woman.”
Eve Salter, defending Dahshan, said: “The defendant was 19 at the time. Although no excuse was given for his behaviour, it was suggested that he was immature and naive at the time. He found himself drawn to his friends and took actions which he did not entirely regret.”
He said Dahshan, an early childhood studies student, had previously been of good character and appealed to the judge to delay his sentence on the grounds that time spent in prison would “disrupt his entire life, including the potential for him to lose his position at the university.”
Carmel Wilde, defending Obad, said the 20-year-old nursing student expressed genuine remorse for her actions, apologized to the victim and confessed to police. He pointed to video footage in which Obad can be heard shouting “girls, stop” in Arabic as Gubran and Dahshan punch and kick the victim.
He said: “He is quite fearful that he may lose his freedom, career and family. Character references show a caring side to Obad; he is described as hard-working, motivated, friendly and likeable.”
Passing sentence, Judge Aubrey said: “I am satisfied that this was a premeditated, premeditated attack by you, Gubran and you, Dahshan, on an innocent woman who was literally taken off the street into a car against her will and then assaulted.
“You found someone else to help, Layla Obad. The victim didn’t know any of you, which could have added to her anxiety and humiliation.”
He said Gubran was the “principal actor, instigator and main protagonist” of the kidnapping, while Dahshan was highly involved. He acknowledged that Obad was not involved in the planning and attack on the victim in the forest, and expressed “sincere remorse and serious empathy with the victim.”
He said: “In the case of Gubran and Dashan, I have concluded that any sentence other than immediate detention is inappropriate. In the case of Obad, given your role and culpability, the balance tips in favor of a suspended sentence.”
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Nadia Gubran, of Bonchurch Drive, Wavertree, was sentenced to 20 months in prison
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Alya Dahshan, of Spindle Close, Everton, was sentenced to 16 months in prison
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Layla Obad, of Railbrook Hey, Old Swan, was sentenced to 14 months in a young offenders institution and suspended for 18 months. He was also ordered to complete 140 hours of unpaid work.