Yahoo News Woman can still hear laughter of 'evil' gang who showed her 'no mercy'
A woman who was dragged into a car as she walked home from work feared for her life as she was driven to the woods and attacked under cover of darkness.
The 23-year-old nursery nurse was grabbed by Nadia Gubran and her friends, Alya Dahshan and Layla Obad, as she walked down Hartington Road at around 6pm on March 21 last year. Bitterly jealous Gubran, 21, had plotted with Dahshan, also 21, to abduct the woman after she discovered she had been exchanging Snapchat messages with a man she herself was interested in.
They drove to a secluded area near Sefton Park Palm House, where the victim was pushed into the bushes and punched and kicked in the head by Gubran and Dahshan, who filmed the attack on her mobile phone. The footage, played at Liverpool Crown Court last week, showed the victim cowering on the ground as she was battered, while one attacker shouted: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, f*** off. Chatting s***. Next time don't f***ing mess with Arabs, alright. D***head. Look at the camera and say it, you won't mess with Arabs."
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The three were caught after Obad, 20, told a friend she had "done a horrible thing" and begged him to help her return the victim's phone, which they had stolen. Gubran, a real estate student, at first claimed she was at university at the time of the attack. But messages retrieved from her phone, sent on March 20 and 21, told a different story. All three women eventually pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and appeared in court yesterday, April 26, for sentence.
In a statement, the victim, who did not know her attackers, described how she had noticed the Volkswagen Golf driving slowly behind her and "immediately felt relief" when she saw the driver was a woman. But her feelings turned to terror when she was pounced on from behind.
She said: "My whole body completely froze and all sorts of thoughts were running through my head. Am I going to be raped? Am I going to be killed? Am I ever going to see my family again? Why is this happening to me? To this day, the laughter of all of them will stay with me. I will never forget the evil, cold tones of their voices."
The victim was left bruised and bloodied, but added: "What people can't see is the emotional trauma. This has scarred me for life. The paranoia and hurt I feel every day will never leave me. I'm wary of cars and people walking behind me. I get a terrible feeling in my stomach like I could vomit. I can no longer walk to and from work as I fear for my safety.
"When in work, I feel like I can't concentrate due to countless sleepless nights and flashbacks. I feel like I'm living through this nightmare over and over again. I live it every single day.
"On March 21 2023 my life changed forever. The woman I once was has gone for good. I don't know myself. I don't know how to think or just be me. My whole self has been taken from me by these three women."
She added: "These women did not show me any mercy during any step of this planned and calculated attack. They have continued to show no remorse for the impact on me and my family by the lengths they went to to avoid justice. I believe any remorse they show is for themselves. No sentence will ever come close to the sentence I have been left with. But I hope justice is served for the vile acts that they have done."
Nadia Gubran, of Bonchurch Drive, Wavertree, was sentenced to 20 months behind bars
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 complete 140 hours of unpaid work.
