by Paul Hooper and Sian Napier

One of the four men accused of being part of a gang rape of a drunken 16 year old girl has admitted twice having sex with her.

But Rafiullah Hamidy, 24, claimed the sex in the street and then in the bedroom of his Ramsgate flat was consensual.

Days after the incident the asylum seeker fled Britain and was arrested in Italy under an European arrest warrant.

But Hamidy, formerly of Northwood Road, told the jury at Canterbury Crown Court that he left Britain because he feared he would lose his immigration appeal and would have to return to Afghanistan.

While he was away, he claimed he tried to commit suicide by throwing himself into the sea because he was lonely and had lost “all hope” after learning on Facebook he was being hunted by British police.

He was asked if the reason he wanted to take his own life was because he had raped the girl.

Hamidy replied: “I hadn’t raped anybody”.

The pizza worker – who denies three rape charges – said on the night the girl was allegedly attacked he had been out with his restaurant boss and two friends drinking vodka and Jack Daniel's in Ramsgate.

He claimed that they returned to Northwood Road, in pizza boss Tamin Rahmani’s Range Rover, at around 3am.

"I hadn't raped anybody" - Rafiullah Hamidy

Hamidy alleged his boss had seen “a beautiful girl” and told the three he was going to “chat her up”.

But as he walked home he claimed his pal Shershah Muslimyar, 20, told him the girl “really wanted to have sex”.

Hamidy claimed the teenager then started kissing him and they had sex against a wall in Violet Avenue before taking her to his room above the 555 Pizza and Kebab shop.

He told the jury they had sex a second time when she was “completely naked” after which he went downstairs to the toilet, smoked a cannabis joint and fell asleep for an hour.

When he returned to his room, the girl had gone, he claimed.

Hamidy, who came to Britain when he was 16 and studied in Canterbury, was also accused of making threats against his former boss for helping police when he left the country.

Defence barrister for Rahmani, Stuart Stevens said: “You made threats even in the dock against Mr Rahmani in this crown court saying : ‘I will get you back’."

He replied: “I have never threatened anybody.”

Earlier, the owner of the takeaway told a court that he never saw the alleged victim.

Tamin Rahmani, 37, said he came to the UK from Afghanistan in 2003 and built up a business.

He told the court he was married with two children and was also in a relationship with another woman with whom he had three children.

On the night in question he said he closed his business in Northwood Road and took his three co-accused, Shershah Muslimyar, Rafiullah Hamidy and a teenager who can’t be named – out to clubs in Ramsgate.

On the way home in the early hours he stopped his car not far from his pizza takeaway and near where the alleged victim was seen on CCTV at the same time, because Muslimyar felt sick and he didn’t want him being ill in his car. The other two also got out and Rahmani drove on to his shop.

“I parked my car and after one minute no one came so I walked back,” Rahmani said. “I saw one of them and asked him about Muslimyar and he said he was sick. I walked down the road as I was looking for him.

"I can’t remember what I was doing. I am surprised that the girl was walking so close" - Teenage defendant

“I found him in Violet Avenue. He was alone and was badly drunk. He was sick and we walked back to the shop. I got him a soft drink and he went to his flat and I went to mine. I did not see any girl.”

The next day the police arrived at his takeaway and said they were investigating the rape of a 16-year-old.

“I was shocked,” Rahmani said. “I wanted to help the police find those responsible.”

He told the jury he did not see Muslimyar with a girl and he denied telling the three to get out of his car because he wanted to chat up the victim. He said he told the other two to get out to look after Muslimyar.

Rahmani said he walked back because he wanted to make sure they were all ok as they were so drunk.

Simon Taylor, prosecuting, said: “Did you go back to see if they had picked up the girl?”

Rahmani replied: “I did not see any girl so why would I think that.”

The teenager, who can’t be named for legal reasons, told the court he was born in Afghanistan and came to the UK in 2015 where he met Muslimyar. He said he thought he was 15.

On the night of the alleged rape he had gone out with Rahmani, Muslimyar and Hamidy and for the first time had drunk alcohol.

“This had a big effect on me,” he told the court. “I was not myself.”

He said he could not remember why he got out of the car on the way back to the takeaway. CCTV showed him walking along the road with the alleged victim with his right arm around her.

The teenager told the jury: “I can’t remember what I was doing. I am surprised that the girl was walking so close.”

He said he went back to the takeaway and went to bed. He denied having sex that night and said he had never had sex before.

He denied walking the victim out of the building and said he did not see anyone having sex with her. He said he was not part of any group of men who had sex with the 16-year-old and did not stand by the door to stop her getting out.

Rahmani, 37, of Northwood Road, Ramsgate, Muslimyar, 20, of Hovenden Close, Canterbury, Hamidy, 24, and a teenager from Ashford, who can’t be named, all deny three rape charges.

The trial continues.