September 2023 Teenage girl in tears after being sexually assaulted as she walked to shop A teenage girl was in tears after being sexually assaulted as she walked to the shop. Somali refugee Abdirashid Hassan preyed upon his victim in the street after drunkenly stumbling out of a nearby pub. He “thrust” himself at her only hours after making a series of crude, sexually charged comments towards a young charity volunteer. Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Thursday, that the 41-year-old entered a community centre in South Liverpool at around 1.30pm on the day in question and approached a 17-year-old volunteer who was working in the reception area. Sarah Griffin, prosecuting, described how Hassan asked her “if she had a boyfriend” and “if she was a lesbian”. He then “asked where her girlfriend was”. The defendant went on to tell her that she had “pretty eyes” and starting singing “you are so beautiful”. She “thought he was behaving strangely” and so “went outside for fresh air”. But Hassan, of no fixed address, followed her, then told one of her colleagues she “had big boobs and a big bum” and that she was “beautiful because of the colour of her skin”. He began repeatedly making sexual comments before he was escorted off the premises. His victim was described as being left “really scared” and “shaken” as a result of the altercation. Later the same day, at around 9.30pm, Hassan left Chaplin’s pub on Lodge Lane in Toxteth and encountered a 16-year-old girl who was walking to a nearby shop. He was described as “clearly heavily intoxicated” and “swaying” when he approached her and “tried to engage her in conversation”. The dad asked her where she was going, at which she stated she was “going to her nan’s”, before he “asked to go back to her place” and “invited her to his”. Hassan began “getting closer and closer to her”, with the teen ending up with her back against a wall. He told her “her breasts were perfect” and that she was “beautiful” before “grabbing her shoulders, trying to get her to go with him”. The stranger then grabbed at her chest and waist, “stroking her hips”, then “thrusted” at her with his penis. Hassan eventually walked away, with the complainant “breaking down in tears” before being accompanied home by concerned members of the public. The assailant was identified as a “male who regularly slept rough” outside St Bede’s Church, where he was found in a doorway and arrested. He was picked out by both of the teenagers in identity parades. Hassan has four previous convictions for five offences, although none for sexual matters. Charles Lander, defending, told the court: “He apologises for his actions. He clearly was very drunk, and that seems to be the primary reason why he acted as he did. “That can be of little consequence to those girls who were subjected to his behaviour that day. The defendant is determined to never get in this situation again. “This is a defendant who, by these few months in custody, has realised the error of his ways – he has been working productively in custody. His dearest wish is to get out of prison and be reunited with his son and live a law-abiding lifestyle.” Hassan, who was assisted by a Somali interpreter during the hearing, admitted sexual assault and harassment. Appearing via video link to HMP Altcourse, he was jailed for 50 weeks as well as being told to sign the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and given a restraining order lasting the same period. Sentencing, Judge Denis Watson KC said of the first incident: “You asked a series of intrusive and personal questions which soon became offensive, and you made sexual remarks to her in an aggressive way. She was so scared and shaken by what you were saying to her that she was still scared and shaken the following day. “Some eight hours or so later you had been drinking in and around the area of Lodge Lane, and as you came out of Chaplin’s bar you were drunk and you came across someone even younger who was just going to the shops. You accosted her and made a series of unwelcome and unwanted sexual remarks to her. “She tried to be polite, but you weren’t letting her go on her way. You forced her, by your presence, against a wall. “You are much bigger. You grabbed at her shoulders and at her breasts, and you tried to stroke her thighs and you were thrusting your groin into contact with her. “She was in tears, she was so upset by what you had done. She described herself afterwards as hyperventilating and extremely scared as to what you had done and what she feared you would do.”