Asylum seeker jailed for Cardiff sex attack on woman

An asylum seeker who launched a sexual attack on a woman has been jailed for more than three years.

Fawaz Alsamaou, 33, from Lockwood, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, strangled and sexually assaulted her under a bridge in Cathays, Cardiff.

She was walking home from a night out in the city center in the early hours of May 12 last year when she noticed the 33-year-old following her.

Alsamaou, originally from Syria, admitted sexual assault and strangulation, and the judge at Newport Crown Court said it was a “horrible attack” and warned him it was “highly likely” he would be deported at the end of his sentence.

After leaving Pulse nightclub, on Cardiff’s Churchill Way, at about 04:00 BST, the woman headed towards Cathays but was grabbed by the neck and pulled under the railway bridge off Salisbury Road.

Alsamaou put his hand under her dress and assaulted her.

At Newport Crown Court on Friday, Tabitha Walker, prosecuting, said the victim, 24, tried to push her assailant away.

When she managed to, she ran and called the police.

After examining CCTV, and an appeal on BBC Crimewatch, the police identified the attacker as Alsamaou and arrested him in Huddersfield.

He had been living there since arriving from Syria.

Ms Walker read out an impact statement to the court in which she said the attack had a “lasting impact” on the victim.

The woman said: “I’m always looking over my shoulder and thinking the worst. At the beginning I couldn’t work and I didn’t leave my house for two weeks. I feel uneasy when it’s dark outside.

“It has really affected my social life and I don’t go out like I used to. I suffer with my mental health in general but this incident really hit that harder.

“I can barely sleep and I have nightmares relating to it. I’m working to get over it but this isn’t something you can just recover from.

“The impact has pulled me back from doing everyday things and stopped me going out with my friends.”

After the assault, she told the court, she did not return to work for two or three months because of the anxiety of being in public.

“The time I had to have off work caused additional stress in my life,” she said.

David Pinnell, defending, explained that despite his guilty plea Alsamaou refused to accept his guilt.

He said his client would be deported because of the conviction.

Sentencing Alsamaou, Judge Celia Hughes said: “It was a horrible attack on a woman alone at night in Cardiff.

“She was entitled to walk home alone at night without being attacked by you, a predatory man.

“You say that you’re a practicing Muslim but your behavior that night casts doubt on the practice of your faith.

“It must have been a petrifying incident for her and had lasting impact on her life.”

Sentencing Alsamaou to three years and one month in prison, she said: “You are highly likely to be deported after you have served your sentence.”

South Wales Police’s Det Sgt Alex Lloyd said: “We hope today’s sentencing gives the victim the closure that she has been seeking.”

“Stranger incidents like that are very unusual, but when they do happen, we use all available policing methods, including media appeals for information, to bring offenders to justice.”