Migrant Hotel Resident Jailed for Four Years for Predatory Sexual Assaults on Two Women in Falkirk

A 23-year-old hotel resident who targeted and sexually assaulted two women in the space of just over an hour after they left nightspots in Falkirk has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Muhammad Sheikhi was sentenced at Stirling Sheriff Court after a jury previously convicted him of two counts of sexual assault following a four-day trial.

Sheriff Keith O'Mahony told Sheikhi the attacks were "deliberate and predatory" and imposed a custodial sentence near the maximum available under his summary powers, alongside placing the defendant on the sex offenders register indefinitely and issuing a 10-year non-contact order regarding both victims.

The court heard the offences occurred in the early hours of 30 November last year, shortly after both victims, who are in their early 20s, had left separate town centre venues to walk home alone.

Read more: Birmingham Rapist Jailed for 20 Years After Nine Rape Convictions & Two Sexual Assault Offences Against Two Women

Sheikhi intercepted his first victim near a railway bridge on Kerse Lane, where he subjected her to non-consensual physical contact, kissing her repeatedly and placing his hands beneath her clothing.

Shortly afterwards, he targeted a second woman on Kerse Lane and inside the adjacent Bellsmeadow skate park, where he pinned her against a tree and committed a further non-consensual sexual act.

Police Scotland officers subsequently arrested Sheikhi in his room at the Cladhan Hotel on Kerse Lane, where he had been residing.

During police interviews, the defendant denied the allegations, claiming he had merely been walking in the area alone, but a jury returned guilty verdicts on both charges following three hours of deliberation.

Read more: Failed Asylum Seeker Mohammad Hasani Jailed for Sexual Assault on Autistic Teen

Defending, Paul Keenan stated in mitigation that Sheikhi was a Syrian national who had arrived in the United Kingdom by small boat after fleeing conflict, noting that his client maintained his innocence regarding the charges.

In his sentencing remarks, Sheriff O'Mahony rejected any suggestion that the offences were spontaneous, stating that the defendant had treated the victims as though their autonomy, dignity, and bodily integrity were of no consequence while they were attempting to return home safely.