Asylum seeker jailed for park rape has sentence cut

An Afghan asylum seeker who raped a teenage girl in a Moray park has had his jail sentence reduced.

Rapualla Ahmadze - who claimed he was an escaped prisoner of the Taliban - attacked the 17-year-old in Cooper Park in Elgin in August 2024.

Ahmadze, 22, had denied rape, claiming that sex was consensual, but was found guilty.

He was jailed for nine years in December, but that has now been reduced to eight years.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Thomas Welsh KC had said it was a "shocking and violent" attack.

Lawyers acting for Ahmadze appealed against the jail term imposed.

Judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh have now quashed the prison sentence passed on him and substituted the reduced term.

Lord Matthews, who heard the appeal with Lady Wise, said that they considered the nine years originally imposed on him was excessive.

Ahmadze had carried out the assault after approaching the girl and making "intimidating" remarks.

He claimed he was out in the early hours of the morning because he was hungry and looking for food. He was convicted of rape and a separate charge of threatening or abusive behaviour.