A Jealous Student Recruited Friends to Kidnap the Woman and Take Her to a Remote Forest Before Attacking Her

A jealous student and her friends kidnapped an innocent woman before taking her to a remote area and attacking her.

Best friends Nadia Gubran and Alya Dahshan, both 21 years old, hatched a plan to kidnap the victim, who Gubran suspected was exchanging Snapchat messages with a man she was interested in. They recruited another woman, Layla Obad, 20, to help carry out the terrifying ambush. .

The gang followed the 23-year-old victim to her workplace on the evening of March 21 last year, before following her in Gubran's Volkswagen Golf as she walked along Hartington Road, Liverpool. They grabbed her from behind and pulled her hood over her face before dragging her into the car and pinning her to the backseat. Her phone was seized and she was interrogated by Gubran, who forced her to hand over her PIN number, the Liverpool ECHO reports.

READ MORE: Man in hospital with serious injuries after 'traumatic' incident in Whitefield

Opening the case at Liverpool Crown Court on April 18, prosecutor Michael Scholes said: "Gubran in particular was aggressive, calling her a sket and a slag, warning her not to associate with Arabs, and also interrogating her about the nature of her relationship with a man named Sol, with whom she was in contact.

"Gubran was described as being very aggressive and intimidating towards the victim, making threats that she knew where she lived and that there were people in the area watching her."

They drove to a remote wooded area near Sefton Park Palm House, where the victim was pushed into 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 before also walking away.

All three women cried in the dock as video footage of the attack, taken by Dahshan, was played in court. It showed the victim on the ground in a wooded area, holding her hands up as she was repeatedly punched and kicked.

One of the attackers could be heard shouting at her: "Yes, yes, yes, f*** away. Just having a nice chat. Next time don't mess with Arabs, okay. D*** Look at the camera and say it: you're not going to mess with Arabs."

Two more videos, taken at an earlier stage, were also played showing the victim face down in the back seat of the car being punched by Gubran.

After the horrific ordeal, the victim sought help from a random passerby, who called a taxi to take her home. She called the police and when officers visited her home, she used her tablet to deactivate her missing cell phone. It was then she noticed she had received an Instagram message from a man saying he had found her phone in Sefton Park.

The man, James Galvin, was tracked down and he told police he had been contacted by Obad, who told him she had "done something terrible" and begged him for help in returning the victim's phone. Mr Scholes said: "It is clear he had no knowledge of what had happened. As a result, police were able to trace Layla Obad and subsequently found the other participants, who were also arrested."

Gubran, a real estate student, initially maintained her innocence, claiming she was in college at the time of the attack. However, messages from her phone, sent on March 20 and 21, revealed that she and Dahshan had planned the kidnapping as they discussed how to force the victim into their car. One message read: "Gloves. Bally (balaclava). Find a perfect location. We're chasing her, grabbing her from behind and we need someone to hold her in the back."

All three women ultimately pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and appeared in court for sentencing on Friday (April 26).

Jo Maxwell, defending Gubran, said: "She sincerely regrets her actions and that occasion and it is something she would never want to involve herself in again. It was a very stupid but very serious reaction to the jealousy she felt.

"She was 20 years old at the time and she is still finding her way in the world. She has a close-knit and loving family who, like herself, are shocked by her actions. She is trying to improve her qualifications; she has already completed a number of them. is someone who has helped the community a lot and wants to provide for her family in the future by striving for a well-paying job. That will be a consequence of an immediate prison sentence she cannot complete that course and the two years she has so far followed will have to be taken again."

She described Gubran as 'immature' and 'an inability to solve problems properly', but judge David Aubrey KC said: 'She is an intelligent woman. She is in her second year at university. She certainly knows the difference between right and wrong. She had planned what she did. I find it difficult to accept that she is an immature woman.'

Eve Salter, defending Dahshan, said: "The defendant was 19 years old at the time. Although there is no excuse for her behaviour, it is said that she was immature and naive at the time. She found herself being overtaken by her friends and committed acts that she did entirely." sorry."

She said Dahshan, an early childhood student, was previously of good character, and called on the judge to suspend her sentence because time in prison would "disrupt her entire life, including the potential loss of her university position'.

Carmel Wilde, defending Obad, said the 20-year-old nursing student had expressed genuine remorse for her actions, apologized to the victim and made full confessions to police. She drew attention to the video footage, which showed Obad shouting "girls, stop" in Arabic as Gubran and Dahshan punched and kicked the victim.

She said: "She is quite terrified that she could lose her freedom, her career and her family. Character references show a caring side of Obad; she is described as hardworking, motivated, kind and sweet."

At sentencing, Judge Aubrey said: 'I am convinced that this was a pre-planned, premeditated attack by you, Gubran, and you, Dahshan, on an innocent woman who was literally bundled into a car against her will and then attacked .

"You found someone else to help, Layla Obad. Your victim did not know any of you, which could have only exacerbated her fear and humiliation."

He said Gubran was "the driving force, the instigator and the main character" of the kidnapping, while Dahshan was deeply involved. He accepted that Obad was not involved in the planning and had not taken part in the attack on the victim in the forest, and had expressed "genuine remorse and significant empathy for the victim".

He said: "In the case of Gubran and Dashan, I have come to the conclusion that no punishment other than immediate detention is appropriate. In Obad's case, taking into account your role and culpability, the balance falls in favor of suspending the sentence. sentence."

• Nadia Gubran, of Bonchurch Drive, Wavertree, was sentenced to 20 months in prison

• Alya Dahshan, of Spindle Close, Everton, was sentenced to 16 months in prison

• Layla Obad, of Railbrook Hey, Old Swan, was sentenced to 14 months in a young offenders institution, suspended for 18 months. She was also ordered to carry out 140 hours of unpaid work.