BELFAST MAN JAILED FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT IN HIS HOME
A Somali national who sexually assaulted a woman in his south Belfast home was jailed on Thursday for nine months.Judge Philip Gilpin told Sharmarke Warsame that he will spend a further nine months on licence following his release from prison.
Warsame originally faced charges of rape and two counts of sexual assault of the same victim.
However, on the morning his trial was due to start last November, the 28-year-old, of Annadale Flats in south Belfast, pleaded guilty to a single count of sexual assault.
Belfast Crown Court heard that Warsame met the woman and took her back to his flat where they had a number of drinks.
The prosecution said the defendant first put his head between her tracksuit bottoms before removing them.
The court was told the victim recorded three short videos of the incident on her mobile phone, one lasting just a single second, and the prosecutor said she was clearly heard telling Warsame "no".
But despite her pleas for him to stop, the prosecutor said the defendant "persisted" in the sexual assault.
Judge Gilpin said the victim was a "vulnerable woman" who had a difficult upbringing from childhood and she also had a problem with alcohol.
The Belfast Recorder said she had not made a victim impact statement, adding he believed the sexual assault would have had an effect on her.
In a pre-sentence report compiled by the Probation Board, Warsame was assessed as a high likelihood of reoffending but it stated that he did not pose a danger to the public in the future.
The report said Warsame also had a problem with alcohol and drugs after fleeing the war in Somalia at the age of ten.
He told a probation officer that his father was killed in an attack on their family home in Somalia and he ended up travelling across Africa before arriving in Northern Ireland.
Judge Gilpin said he had watched the mobile phone footage recorded by the victim and she could be clearly heard saying 'no' to the defendant and asking him to stop.
As well as the 18-month determinate custodial sentence, Judge Gilpin imposed a five-year restraining order on Warsame, warning him he is not to contact the victim directly or indirectly during that period.
However, the judge refused to impose a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO), stating he believed "the high threshold has not been reached in this case" to warrant its imposition.
