The man who followed a woman to the bathroom and tried to rape her was jailed for “predatory” actions

Mohamed Mohamud Mohamed (26) asked the woman why she was screaming during the attack and told her: “I’m saying, please.”

The court heard the woman screamed so much during the ninety-second attack that she lost the ability to scream or use the high register of her voice for months afterwards.

“Women should not feel unsafe doing simple tasks… like going to the bathroom,” she said in her victim impact statement. “The feeling of fear never goes away,” she said.

Mohamed, with a previous address at Townsend Street, Dublin 2, pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to attempted rape and sexual assault in a bar in central Dublin on November 12, 2022.

Mohamed, who has been in custody since January 2023, has no record of previous convictions.

Judge Paul McDermott said he was convinced Mohamed deliberately targeted the woman and followed her into the bathroom, where his intention was clearly to rape and sexually assault her.

She said she had endured a terrifying experience at the hands of a stranger who had followed her into the isolated, empty bathroom. She said the consequences for the woman had been devastating both emotionally and socially. She had lost her sense of security in doing ordinary things.

“Terror accompanies her in everyday life,” he said. He said she had demonstrated a high degree of courage and considerable strength of character.

The judge praised the gardai for their clever investigative work in tracing Mohamed from the till receipts. He said little was known about Mohamed and that what was known was not verifiable.

He set a main sentence of seven years for attempted rape and four years for sexual assault. He took into account mitigating factors, including her guilty plea and his work history.

Judge McDermot noted that Mohamed appeared to be an isolated person and would serve his foreign nation sentence in an Irish prison.

He imposed concurrent sentences totaling five years and six months.

The judge said that given the predatory nature of Mohamed’s actions, he would impose four years of supervision after his release to ensure his crime was addressed and to protect the public.

An investigating garda told Cathleen Noctor SC, prosecuting, that the girl asked to use the bar’s toilets at closing time and was told where they were.

She entered a cubicle and discovered that the door couldn’t be locked, so she left her phone in the toilet paper holder and tried to keep the door closed with her feet. He realized someone was trying to get in and, thinking she was another woman, he told the person he was busy.

Then she realized it was a man and demanded to know what he was doing. Mohamed entered the cubicle and closed the door behind him, while the woman tried to pull up her pants. She set her pint glass on top of her phone.

Mohamed grabbed her wrist and appeared to masturbate, then attempted to rape her.

He asked her why she was shouting and said, “I’m saying please.” She also told him, “Please, please, I need this.”

The woman kept trying to push him and thought about breaking the glass, but she was afraid she would be seen as wrong if he was bleeding.

He blocked the door with his shoulder as she tried to leave, but managed to grab her phone. He inserted her fingers into her vagina.

The woman finally managed to push him away and pull up her pants. She ran out of the bathroom and alerted security, but the offender had escaped.

Gardai were alerted and tracked the attacker’s movements via CCTV. Gardai were able to see him paying for the drinks and used his payment method information on the till receipts to trace his banking details and, ultimately, his address.

The woman was taken to a sexual assault treatment unit the night of the attack and semen was found on her pants. A DNA match was found between the semen and a sample taken from Mohamed.

Mohamed was interviewed by Gardai and said there had been consensual touching and that his semen was present because he masturbated in front of her.

The court heard that Mohamed claimed to be from Somalia, where he had fled in 2017. He was in direct provision in Italy before being denied asylum in Germany, Italy and France. He traveled to Holland, where he obtained a false Swedish passport, which he destroyed while traveling to Ireland.

He sought asylum in Ireland upon arrival in February 2022 and was placed in a hotel in Dublin, where he lived until his arrest. His asylum request has not been resolved.

In her victim impact statement, the woman described how the crime has impacted her life.

He said he had tried to commit suicide because he thought he couldn’t live without nightmares and fear. His mental health was affected but she didn’t get help for a year because she refused to think about it.

She described how she had to turn down a job offer because she couldn’t concentrate or work with a team full of men. She said the fear of something similar happening was unbearable.

He said he had not been able to feel happiness and spent a lot of time at his lowest point.

John Peart SC, defending, said his client had said he was not used to drinking so much and this was an explanation, not an excuse. He said he has been ordered to state his client’s apology and regret for his actions.

He asked the court to take into account Mohamed’s guilty plea at the earliest opportunity and grant him the benefit of it being a first offence.

Peart said Mohamed would serve his sentence as a foreign national in an Irish prison and asked the court to be as lenient as possible.