‘Aggressive’ Liverpool students kidnapped and attacked woman over jealous Snapchat messages

Three Liverpool students appeared in Liverpool Crown Court last week for sentencing after they gang abducted and attacked a young woman.

Nadia Gubran, 21, plotted the kidnapping alongside her best friend Alya Dahshan, also 21. The pair also recruited 20-year-old Layla Obad to carry out the attack which occurred at around 6pm on March 21st last year.

Gubran had orchestrated the 23-year-old victim after she suspected she had exchanged messages on Snapchat with a man she was interested in, Liverpool Echo reports. 

The three women gang tracked the victim to her place of work before following her down Hartington Road in Gubran’s Volkswagen Golf.

They then proceeded to grab the woman from behind, pulling her hood over her face before dragging her inside the vehicle and pinning her down on the back seat.

They then retrieved her phone and interrogated her, with Gubran forcing her to reveal her phone pin number.

Opening the case at Liverpool Crown Court on April 18th, Michael Scholes, prosecuting, spoke of Gubran’s behaviour as “aggressive and intimidating”. He said: “Gubran in particular was aggressive, calling her a sket and a slag, and she warned her she shouldn’t associate with Arabs, as well as interrogating her about the nature of her relationship with a man called Sol, who she was in contact with.”

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Following the attack, the victim had received help from a passer-by who had called a taxi to take her home. She later called police before using her tablet to try and deactivate her missing mobile phone. It was then she noticed she had an Instagram message from a man saying he had found her phone in Sefton Park.

The man, James Galvin, was located by police and explained that he had been approached by Obad, who told him she “had done a horrible thing” and asked him to help her return the victim’s phone.

Mr Scholes said: “It’s clear he had no knowledge of what had happened. As a result, police were able to trace Layla Obad, a nursing student, and afterwards find the other participants, who were also arrested.”

Gubran initially maintained her innocence, claiming she was at university at the time of the attack. Despite this, messages sent from her phone on March 20th and 21st revealed she and Dahshan had planned the abduction, as they discussed how they could force the victim into their car.

One message read: “Gloves. Bally (balaclava). Go look for a perfect location. We hunt her down, grab her from behind, and we need someone to hold her in the back.”

The three women all eventually pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, and appeared in court on April 26th for sentencing.

Jo Maxwell, defending Gubran, said: “She genuinely regrets her actions and that occasion and it’s something she would never wish to involve herself in again. it was a very stupid but very serious reaction to the jealousy that she felt.

“She was aged 20 at the time and she’s still finding her way in the world. She has a tight and loving family who are horrified at her actions, as she is herself.

“She seeks to improve her qualifications; she’s already undertaken several of them. She’s someone who has assisted the community a great deal and is seeking to look after her family in the future by aspiring to secure well-paid employment. She has one year to go in university. The effect of an immediate custodial sentence will mean that she’s unable to complete that course and the two years she has undertaken so far will need to be re-sat.”

Describing Gubran as “immature”, Maxwell claimed she had “an inability to appropriately solve problems”, however the judge challenged her view. Judge David Aubrey KC said: “She is an intelligent woman. She is in her second year at university. She knows, most certainly, the difference between right and wrong. She planned what she was doing. I find it difficult to accept that she is an immature woman.”

Eve Salter, defending Dahshan, said: “The defendant was 19 at the time. While it’s not submitted to excuse her behaviour, it’s submitted she was immature and naïve at the time. She found herself caught up with her friends and committed acts she wholly regrets.”

She said Dahshan was of previous good character, and requested the judge suspend her sentence, as time in prison would “disrupt the entirety of her life including the potential loss of her university position.”

Carmel Wilde, defending Obad, said the 20-year-old had shown remorse for her actions, including apologising to the victim and making full admissions to police.

She also referred to the video footage, which features Obad shouting “girls, stop” in Arabic as Gubran and Dahshan kicked and punched the victim.

Wilde continued: “She’s quite petrified that she could lose her liberty, her career, and her family. Character references show a caring side to Obad; she is described as hardworking, motivated, friendly and loveable.”

Sentencing, Judge Aubrey said: “I’m satisfied that this was a pre-planned, premeditated attack by you, Gubran, and you, Dahshan, upon an innocent woman who was literally bundled off the street into a car against her will and thereafter assaulted.

“You found someone else to assist, Layla Obad. Your victim didn’t know any of you, which could only have exacerbated her anxiety and humiliation.”

He continued to explain that while Gubran was “the prime mover, the instigator, and the main protagonist” of the kidnapping, Dahshan was also highly involved

He also added that he accepted Obad was not involved in the planning and had not taken part in the assault on the victim in the woods, and had expressed “sincere remorse and considerable victim empathy”

He said: “In the case of Gubran and Dashan, I have come to the conclusion that no sentence other than immediate custody is appropriate. In the case of Obad, bearing in mind your role and culpability, the balance falls in favour of suspending the sentence.”

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