Copyright walesonline
An asylum seeker visiting Cardiff followed a young woman out of a club before strangling and sexually assaulting her under a city centre bridge, a court heard. The victim was walking home from a night out in the early hours of the morning on May 12 last year when she noticed she was being followed by Fawaz Alsamaou. Having left Pulse nightclub on Churchill Way at around 4am, the woman continued to walk towards the Cathays area of the city but was grabbed by the neck and pulled to one side underneath the railway bridge near Salisbury Road. Alsamaou, aged 33, then put his hand under her dress, grabbed her crotch and pulled it for seven seconds. Don’t miss a court report by signing up to our crime newsletter here . At a sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court on Friday, October 31, prosecutor Ms Tabitha Walker said the victim tried to push Alsamaou away and eventually managed to do so before running from the scene and calling the police. After conducting CCTV enquiries, police identified the attacker as Alsamaou and he was subsequently arrested in Huddersfield, where he had been living as an asylum seeker since arriving in the UK from Syria. Ms Walker read an impact statement to the court in which the victim described how the attack had had "lasting impact" on her. She continued: "I'm always looking over my shoulder and thinking the worst. At the start I couldn't work and I didn't leave my house for two weeks. I feel uneasy when it 's dark outside "It has really affected my social life and I don't go out like I used to. I suffer with my mental health generally but this incident really hit that harder. "I can barely sleep and I have nightmares relating to it. I'm working to get over it but this isn't something you can just recover from. The impact has pulled me back from doing everyday things and stopped me going out with my friends." She continued: "I didn't return to work at the office for two or three months due to the anxiety of being in public and in a busy setting with lots of people. The time I had to have off work caused additional stress in my life and additional meetings with HR." David Pinnell, for the defendant, explained how despite his guilty pleas at the earliest opportunity, Alsamaou wasn't accepting he was guilty of the offences and this had made mitigating for him very difficult. He did however add that his client would be deported at some point due to the conviction. Alsamaou, of Swan Lake, Lockwood, Huddersfield, admitted sexual assault and intentional strangulation. He has no previous convictions in the UK. During sentencing, Judge Celia Hughes said: "It was a horrible attack on a woman alone at night in Cardiff. She was entitled to walk home alone at night without being attacked by you, a predatory man. You say that you're a practising Muslim but your behaviour that night casts doubt on the practise of your faith. "It must have been a petrifying incident for her and had lasting impact on her life." Judge Hughes sentenced Alsamaou to 37 months in prison, with a lead offence of sexual assault. She added: "You are highly likely to be deported after you have served your sentence." Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here . We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice .
