SERIAL OFFENDER ASSAULTED WOMAN HOURS AFTER ACCOSTING TEENAGE GIRL IN DUNBLANE
An asylum seeker committed a sexual assault on a woman while he was waiting to attend court for making inappropriate sexual comments to a teenage girl in Dunblane.Biniam Weldeab was being escorted back to his cell after a meeting with his solicitor in an interview room when, passing by the woman standing in the corridor, the Eritrean national reached out and groped her breast.
Just a few hours prior, the 29-year-old had frightened a 14-year-old girl by questioning her about her sex life.
He was subsequently detained after the girl’s father confronted him.
Allegedly approaching the girl in Dunblane During the hearing at Stirling Sheriff Court, it was revealed that Weldeab approached the girl around 7:40 pm after she disembarked from a train and was waiting for a lift home.
Fiscal depute Lucy Clarke noted: “She left the train and exited Dunblane railway station, walking towards Tesco while waiting for her father to pick her up.
She was alone on the path in the Springfield Terrace car park.
At this point, she noticed the defendant approaching her.
He started asking questions about her name and residence.
Feeling uncomfortable but unable to walk away, she answered.
The defendant smiled and told her she was beautiful.
He inquired about her age, and she replied that she was 14.
He then shifted to more sexual questions — asking, ‘do you like sex?’ She responded, ‘No, I’m 14,’ feeling alarmed by his query.
The girl then saw she had a missed call from her father and noticed him arriving in the car park.
She quickly went to the car, later describing to her father what had happened, which led him to confront Weldeab.
He attempted to minimize the incident, saying, “I was just telling her she was beautiful,” and when questioned about whether he asked about her sex life, he replied, “No, I was just asking if she enjoyed sex.” Weldeab then fled the scene and was later apprehended in Glasgow.
Sexual misconduct at court The court also heard that Weldeab sexually assaulted the woman at Stirling court, an act she described as “more than a light graze and an intentional act.” Weldeab’s solicitor, Ken Dalling, stated that his client plans to leave the UK, with or without Home Office support.
He added that Weldeab had been honest with the girl’s father after being confronted and had apologized to the woman he groped, claiming it was a “mistake.” Sentencing Sheriff Wylie Robertson sentenced Weldeab to a total of 10 months in prison for both incidents and ordered him to register as a sex offender for ten years.
Additional offenses in England Weldeab, who resides in Sheffield, admitted to making sexual remarks to the girl in Dunblane on September 8 of last year and to sexually assaulting the woman the following day.
He was transferred to Scottish detention after receiving a four-month sentence in England for groping a woman at a Leeds bus stop, where he sat beside her, leaned on her, and then grabbed her buttocks.
The transfer allowed the Scottish legal process to proceed.
