This article contains references to sexual assault some readers may find distressing.
By Sonya McLean
A man who sexually assaulted a woman after forcibly kissing her and then followed her onto a DART has been jailed for 21 months.
Abderrahmane El Aaour (58), who is currently living in hostel accommodation, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexual assault of the then 20-year-old woman in a Dublin suburb in November 2016. He has previous convictions but nothing for sexual offences.
Garda Gavin Fleet told Gerardine Small SC prosecuting that the woman was in her second year in a training course for people with special needs and was sitting outside a church when El Aaour approached her and asked her for a cigarette.
She had never seen the man before. She said she didn’t have a cigarette and he asked her to go for a coffee. The woman later told gardaí she agreed to go for a coffee because she was afraid to say “no”.
Gda Fleet said after a short time in the café the woman said she had to go but El Aaour asked her to stay. She left anyway and he followed her. He caught up with her before he forcibly kissed her and touched her breasts outside her clothing.
The woman later said she didn’t like it and she was scared. He asked her did she want to go to a hotel and she shook her head, indicating that she didn’t want to but El Aaour took her hand and began walking with her.
Gda Fleet said the woman managed to break free from El Aaour but he followed her onto the DART.
She phoned her mother who advised her to take a photograph of the man. When the woman reached her destination, her mother was waiting for her and El Aaour followed her off the DART.
Gda Fleet said at one point the woman dropped her phone. El Aaour picked it up for her but managed to get her phone number off it before handing it back to her.
The woman’s mother immediately reported him to the gardaí and provided them with the photographs of El Aaour. While they were in the station making a statement, El Aaour rang the woman’s phone.
Gda Fleet said they were able to identify El Aaour as a suspect and he was arrested. He denied sexually assaulting the woman.
Gda Fleet agreed with Seamus Clarke SC defending El Aaour that he initially worked with circuses when he came to Ireland first. He later began to work in the fruit markets in Dublin City Centre. He is currently homeless.
The now 27-year-old woman read her victim impact statement to the court via video-link.
She outlined her disability to the court. She said the crime has changed her life in many ways. She is nervous to go out now in case she might meet the man again and no longer goes on shopping or cinema trips with her friends.
She is also nervous getting public transport and will move seats if a man sits beside her.
“I don’t trust a lot of men anymore – I don’t like it when man speak to me,” she said.
“I feel very sad and I always wonder why did this happen to me? I wouldn’t like this to happen to anyone else,” she continued.
She outlined how she has since started to self-harm and she is upset because this upsets her mother. She is on a waiting list for counselling and her hair has started to fall out because of stress.
“I feel stressed all the time and I wonder will it ever end? Will I ever feel better again? I think about this day all the time. I was so young and happier back then,” the woman continued.
“His face is stuck in my head and I don’t want to see him again. I am afraid to go to sleep every night because I have a nightmare,” she said.
“Did he pick because I am different?” she asked.
“I want to forget but I still remember,” she concluded her statement.
Mr Clarke said if it were not for the vulnerability of the woman, this offence could be seen as being at the lower end of the scale.
He described the victim impact statement as “very brave” and said his client has instructed that he is remorseful for his behaviour on the night.
Judge Martin Nolan said the woman was kissed and touched without her consent.
“I must infer that he knew she had challenges and he took advantage of this situation,” the judge said before he said El Aaour had behaved in an intimidating way by following the woman and noted that this frightened the victim.
He set a headline sentence of three years which he reduced to 21 months taking into account the man’s guilty plea and the fact that he felt it was “unlikely that he will re-offend to any great degree”.