A jury found Muhammad Sheikhi, 23, guilty of sexually assaulting two women who were walking home from a night out in the early hours
A “predatory” man cornered woman walking home from nights out and sexually assaulted them, leaving one victim so distressed she couldn’t speak.
Muhammad Sheikhi, 23, has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women who were walking home from nights out in Falkirk, Scotland last year. The Syrian asylum seeker committed both attacks in the early hours of Sunday 30 November, near the Hotel Cladhan where he had been residing.
He targeted the first woman at a railway bridge on where he embraced her, repeatedly kissed her on the face and mouth, and placed his hands under her skirt. He then sexually assaulted a second woman on a street and a nearby skate park, where he pressed her against a tree before placing his hands under her clothing.
Both of his victims were in their early twenties and both had been walking home alone following nights out in the town centre. Sheikhi, who the court heard had arrived in the UK by boat, had denied the charges and informed police he had simply been “roaming around” as he did not have anyone to socialise with in his hotel, reports the Daily Record.
However, following a four-day trial at Stirling Sheriff Court, a jury found the 23-year-old guilty of both charges after three hours of deliberation. Sheriff Keith O’Mahony told him: “You have been convicted of two very serious charges. As far as this court is concerned you have no previous convictions. Therefore, as a matter of law, I require to obtain a report before sentencing.”
Sheikhi, who appeared in court wearing a grey jumper and blue jeans, displayed no emotion as the verdict was delivered. In his closing address to the jury on Thursday, prosecutor Jamie Hilland described Sheikhi’s behaviour towards the two women as “predatory”.
“I suggest that the evidence demonstrates that in the early hours of November 30 last year, the accused behaved in a predatory manner towards these two women and he sexually assaulted them,” Mr Hilland said. “There are compelling similarities between the two crimes.
“These were so closely linked in time and circumstances as to form part of a single course of criminal conduct systematically pursued by the accused.”
He further stated: “On their evidence, the accused approached both women, he’s tried to give them his phone. He tried to get them to add him on Snapchat. In both cases he’s tried to corner the complainer and he then sexually assaulted both of them.”
The prosecutor said Sheikhi’s actions had left both women “distressed”, drawing attention to a phone call one of them had made to her father in the aftermath of the assault. “(Her father) said she could hardly talk, she could hardly breathe. It was the point where he was struggling to understand her,” Mr Hilland said.
He added: “She told him she had been sexually assaulted at the railway bridge by a man who put his hand under her skirt and tried to kiss her.” During his closing argument, Sheikhi’s lawyer Paul Keenan had urged the jury to acquit his client of both charges, claiming the case against him was “flawed throughout”.
Despite this, the jury returned guilty verdicts on both counts. Sheikhi is set to be sentenced on June 29.
