Ibrahim Ahmadi v. Her Majesty’s Advocate [2016] HCJAC 7

Note of appeal against sentence:- In July 2015, at Glasgow High Court, the appellant was convicted after trial of a charge of rape. He was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment. The appellant appealed against the sentence imposed on the grounds that it was excessive. It was submitted on behalf of the appellant that he was aged 23 at the time of the commission of the offence, he had no analogous previous convictions or outstanding cases. It was further submitted that the appellant, who was from Afghanistan, had endured a difficult background in his homeland before he came to Scotland as an asylum seeker. It was further submitted, with reference to two unreported cases, that a sentence of 4 years had previously been imposed by the court in similar circumstances to the present case. Here the court considered the circumstances of the case and allowed the appeal. The court was of the view that 7 years imprisonment was excessive and substituted an extended sentence of 7 years in terms of section 210A of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 of which the custodial term was 5 years and the extension period was 2 years. The court considered that an extended sentence with post-custodial supervision was appropriate having regard to the author of the criminal justice social work report assessing the appellant as being at high risk of sexual offending in the future and that he was likely to re‑offend.