Man jailed for sexually assaulting woman after following her through Dublin city centre – The Irish Times

A man who sexually assaulted a young woman in Dublin city centre after following her for half an hour as she tried to escape him has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Adel Kerai (26) had only arrived in the state five days before the incident.

He saw the 22-year-old woman waiting for her boyfriend outside a shop on O’Connell Street at around 11pm and decided he “liked” her.

Kerai, of no fixed address in Dublin 1, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the woman in Henry Street on 10 December last year. He is originally from Algeria and is seeking asylum here on the grounds that he was persecuted because of his political beliefs.

The woman was on the phone with her boyfriend when Kerai approached her and started a conversation with her, managing to hang up at the same time, Garda Stephen Conran told prosecutor Patrick McCullough BL.

The woman walked towards the GPO and then turned into Henry Street to escape Kerai, but he followed her and put his arm around her shoulders. She walked to the end of Henry Street, still trying to shake Kerai off. The incident culminated in Kerai attempting to kiss the woman by sliding his hand under her top and touching her genital area over her clothing before pressing his penis against her.

The woman tried to push Kerai away but he was too strong, the court heard. At that moment her boyfriend called her back and a passerby came to her aid when he saw that she was crying. Two Garda foot patrols also arrived at the scene.

According to the prosecutor, the entire incident lasted 30 minutes and parts of it were recorded on video surveillance systems.

Kerai was arrested at the scene and has been in custody since then. He did not provide police with a passport or official documents and initially gave a different name and date of birth. He has four previous convictions in the UK, where he lived for a year before coming to Dublin.

A statement from the victim was presented to the court, but it was not read out.

Keith Spencer BL, defending, said his client “had his eye on this young lady” and was under the mistaken assumption that she liked him back. He said Kerai had been drinking alcohol that day, which had impaired his judgement. The defendant wishes to apologise unreservedly for his actions that day, the court heard.

Mr Spencer said Kerai intends to seek asylum in this country and wants to build a life for himself after his release from prison.

Judge Martin Nolan said Kerai had “no right whatsoever to behave in this way” and that the whole encounter was “completely unprompted”. To make matters worse, he “approached the woman completely unprompted on a public street while she was going about her business”.

“It was very frightening for the victim,” he said. “What was particularly bizarre was the way he approached the girl – approaching someone and behaving like that.”

He imposed a prison sentence of four years, reduced to 27 months for mitigating circumstances, and dated it back to December last year, when Kerai was taken into custody.