Post #9633

A Somali asylum seeker who followed a woman into a toilet cubicle and tried to rape her has been jailed for five years and six months. Mohamed Mohamud Mohamed (26) asked the woman why she was screaming during the attack, telling her “I am saying please.” The court heard the woman screamed so much during the ninety-second attack that she lost the ability to scream or use the high-pitched register of her voice for months afterward. An investigating garda told Cathleen Noctor SC, prosecuting, that the young woman asked to use the toilets in the bar at closing time and was told where they were. She went into a cubicle and found the door could not be locked, so she put her phone down on the toilet roll holder and attempted to hold the door closed with her feet. She became aware someone was trying to get in and thinking it was another female, told the person it was occupied. She then realised it was a man and demanded to know what he was doing. Mohamed entered the cubicle and closed the door behind him, as the woman attempted to pull up her pants. He put his pint glass down on top of her phone. Mohamed grabbed her by the wrist and appeared to be masturbating, he then attempted to rape her. He asked her why she was screaming, telling her “I am saying please.” He also told her “Please, please, I need this.” The woman continued to try and push him away and contemplated smashing the glass at him but feared she might be seen to be in the wrong if he was bleeding. He blocked the door with his shoulder as she tried to get out, but she managed to get her phone. He inserted his fingers in her vagina. The woman finally managed to push him away and pull up her trousers. She ran from the toilet and alerted security but the offender had escaped. The court heard Mohamed claimed to be from Somalia, which he had fled in 2017. He was in direct provision in Italy before being refused asylum in Germany, Italy and France. He travelled to Holland, where he got a false Swedish passport, which he destroyed while travelling to Ireland. He applied for asylum in Ireland on his arrival in February 2022 and was placed in hotel accommodation on Townsend Street, Dublin 2, where he lived until his arrest. His asylum application has not been decided. The judge commended the gardaí for their clever investigative work in tracking down Mohamed from till receipts. He said little was known about Mohamed, and what was known was unverifiable. #NewToTheParish#HelensFelons 🔗sundayworld.com