Hotel Asylum Seeker Sexually Assaulted Three Local Women

Staines Magistrates' Court

The bicycle-riding resident of an asylum hotel near Gatwick Airport was this week convicted of groping three women as he rode past them to and from his illegal car wash job.

Qais Al-Aswad, 26, who resides at Four Points By Sheraton Hotel, Brighton Road, Horley, Surrey denied the charges, claiming the cyclist caught on CCTV was not him.

At Staines Magistrates’ Court he was found guilty of three counts of sexually assaulting the women in Horley, Surrey on May 23; June 4  and June 12. 

Prosecutor Mr Alan Balneaves told the trial: “The first charge is at approximately 9.00pm in Consort Way, Horley when the complaint was walking with her mother away from a local pub.

“This is the same route this defendant takes from Horley train station to his home at a hotel.

“There is CCTV that follows part of that route and it shows a person on a bike approaching the complaint from behind and slapping her bottom.

“The cyclist was wearing a rather distinctive camouflage jacket and blue greenish jeans and a black hat.”

The prosecution case is the bike and clothing, plus the clothing linked to subsequent assaults along belong to Al-Aswad.

“This first complainant did not see the person approach and by the time the assault is made she does not get a good look as the person rides off,” added the prosecutor.

“CCTV at Horley train station shows this defendant in the same jacket and trousers.”

The blonde complainant, 32, told the court she had just left the Jack Fairman pub and was walking along the pavement with her mother, with CCTV showing the incident.

“Out of nowhere a guy cycled very close and slapped my bum and said: ‘excuse me.’ I did not see his face. He was wearing a camouflage jacket.

“At the time I was shocked. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before and it made me feel violated. It was from behind and I had no idea he was approaching.”

Mr Balneaves said the second assault on June 4 occurred just after 9.00pm.

“She was walking along the same route as the first complainant and the rider approaches from behind and grabs and squeezes her bottom.

“There is footage from the street CCTV and Horley train station.

“We can see he is wearing rather distinctive trainers and there is phone cell site analysis that puts his phone in the area.”

The court heard Al-Aswad was wearing the same trainers and had a distinctive Air Jordan rucksack when hotel CCTV recorded him leaving for the car wash that morning at 5.46am.

The red-haired woman, 58, who had just left Horley station told the court: “I was walking along on the pavement and all of a sudden there was a gentleman to my left on a bike.

“He squeezed my left bum cheek and rode off. It was quite a shock and I shouted a couple of swear words.

“The cyclist turned and looked at me and I stuck my finger up at him and he did the same to me, smiled and rode off.”

The third assault was on June 12 at around 10.45am, when Al-Aswad insists he was at the car wash.

“A bike rider appears from the front and as he approaches and is about to pass he grabs her crotch vaginal area,” said the prosecutor.

“There is compilation CCTV of him riding his bicycle that shows him wearing his distinctive trainers, Air Jordan backpack and a two-tone jacket.”

The woman, 26, who has distinctive long blonde hair told the trial she was near Waitrose in Consort Way.

“I had just left a shop to meet my partner and daughter and got my phone out when I became aware of a cyclist on the pavement.

“The cyclist was coming towards me and as the cyclist went past he reached down and touched my vagina.

“I turned around and shouted at him and as I shouted they stopped, looked around and he kissed his hand that he just touched my vagina with.

“I was shook up instantly. It all happened really quickly and I was caught off guard. I got one glance and could not see his face really because of his hand.”

Al-Aswad insisted he did not touch any of the local white women, claiming items of his clothing were worn by an Egyptian man, who often sneaked into his hotel room via the window.

The bike was given to him by a charity and he said others often use it.

Muslim Al-Aswad, wearing HMP Wandsworth-issued grey sweat pants and grey t-shirt, seemed more concerned with whining about his personal circumstances when giving evidence.

“I left my country. I left my wife and kids in the camp and seek safety,” he said via an Arabic interpreter.

“I want to know what you are going to do with me today. I want to know that if I am found guilty, how am I going to see my wife?”

He continued to deny he was the cyclist captured on CCTV, insisting: “I have not assaulted any women. I have not assaulted anyone or kissed any women. I was at work.”

He was identified via his distinctive Adidas trainers, but claimed: “They are my trainers, but all of them borrow my trainers. This is not me.”

Before the trial Al-Aswad was complaining from the dock: “I want to see the people who complained about me. I have not done anything wrong.

“I have a lot of friends that use my clothes and use my bike. I have got a homeless friend from Egypt who climbs in through my window and I give him clothes.

“It has been two months for me in prison and I don’t understand why I am in prison. I want to get out of this.”

After she convicted him after a two-hour trial District Judge Julie Cooper remanded Al-Aswad in custody until October 1 for a pre-sentence report.

“These are sexual offences and I need to know more about you before I can sentence you,” she told him.

“The same bike was used, the person wore your trousers and your camouflage and two-tone jacket were found at your place,” the judge announced.

“Your phone shows you at the sites the attacks took place and your distinctive backpack was worn and the same method of assault was employed on each occasion.”