Asylum seeker jailed for sex attack on woman

For more than three years, an asylum seeker who launched a sex attack on a woman was jailed. Fawaz Alsamaou, 33, from Lockwood, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, strangled and sexually assaulted her underneath a bridge in Cathays She was walking home from a night out in the city centre in the early hours of 12 May last year when she noticed the 33-year-old following her. Alsamaou, a Syrian immigrant, confessed sexual assault and strangulation, but the judge in Newport Crown Court warned it was a most likely that he would be deported at the end of his term.

'Thinking the worst'

The woman walked toward Cathays after leaving Pulse nightclub on Cardiff's Churchill Way about 04:00 BST but was grabbed by the neck and pulled under the railway bridge off Salisbury Road. Alsamaou took his hand under her dress and assaulted her. Tabitha Walker, a solicitor, told the woman, 24, that she tried to compel her assassination away from her assentment at Newport Crown Court on Friday She ran and called the police when she was able to. After reviewing CCTV footage and an appeal on BBC Crimewatch, police identified the perpetrator as Alsamaou and arrested him in Huddersfield. Since arriving from Syria, he had been living there. Ms Walker read out an impact statement to the court in which she said the assault had long-term consequences on the victim.

I'm always looking over my shoulder and wishing for the worst,

the woman said. I couldn't function at the beginning, and I didn't leave my house for two weeks. When it's dark outside, I get anxious. "It has really affected my social life, and I don't go out like I used to. I have a definite problem with my mental health, but this event made it all the more difficult.

'It must have been petrifying'

I can barely sleep and have nightmares about it. I'm trying to get over it, but it isn't something you can just recover from.

The impact has taken me right from doing everyday activities and prevented me from going out with my friends.

She told the court that she did not return to work for two or three months because of the fear of being in public.

The time I had to have off work put more stress in my life,

she said. Despite his guilty pleas, David Pinnell, the defense, explained that Alsamaou refused to accept his guilt. Because of the indictment, he said his client will be deported. Judge Celia Hughes sentencing Alsamaou:

It was a horrible assault on a woman alone at night in Cardiff.

She was allowed to walk home alone at night without being assaulted by you, a predatory man.

You say you are a practicing Muslim, but your behavior that night casts doubt on the faith's usage. It must have been a traumatic event for her that has left a lasting impression on her life.

You are very likely to be deported after you have served your term,

she wrote in a three-year sentence for Alsamaou.

We hope today's sentencing gives the victim the peace she has been seeking.

Stranger incidents like this are extremely rare, but we do have to use all available policing strategies, including media appeals for information, to bring prisoners to justice.