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| Deliverrude: Lekhal leaving court |
A Deliveroo rider used his moped to travel around London and prey on vulnerable women - exposing and playing with himself outside their bedroom windows - a court heard yesterday.
His victims were left terrified and now fear being home alone or walking the streets late at night and two sisters in their twenties were targeted three times in ten days.
Married father-of-one Billal Lekhal, 26, of Holloway Road, Holloway received a suspended prison sentence and is indefinitely banned from entering the victims’ roads.
He pleaded guilty to exposing himself last year to three different women in Clements Street, Holloway on June 27; Central Hill, Crystal Palace on June 29 and an address in Bromley on July 20.
He also pleaded guilty to three counts of voyeurism for sexual gratification at the two sisters’ address in Mildmay Grove, Dalston, on August 16; August 24 and August 26.
“We have given a great deal of thought to this very, very unpleasant case,” said Bromley magistrate Matthew Lonsdale. “We have heard the victim impact statements, one from a woman who had the immense courage to come to court.
“It would not be overdramatic to say you have ruined five lives and only a custodial sentence is appropriate for what we have heard.”
Prosecutor Sophie Akister told the court the July 20 victim was sleeping alone in her basement flat when she was woken by what she thought was a candle falling over.
“She heard a noise by her window and lifted the blind and there was a man outside. She started screaming in panic and shouted: ‘F*** off, go away.’
“The man did not move and she could see he was masturbating and he said: ‘Get out your t***.’
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| Lekhal received a suspended sentence |
“He scrambled up the wall and through the bushes and made off and the woman could hear a motorbike starting up on her driveway.”
Police took DNA swabs from the windowsill that later linked first-time offender Lekhal to the offence when he was arrested for spying on the two sisters.
The victim told the court: “This was my first home I had to myself and felt secure and safe, but in the space of a few minutes this man has taken that away from me.
“I did not think this horror story would happen in my own home. It is the stuff of nightmares.
“The months since have changed me. I am taking anti-depressants and take anti-anxiety medication with me whenever I leave home.
“I could not live there anymore and moved out in September and night terrors haunt me and I fear for my safety that this man is around.
“He has changed my life entirely.”
Lekhal was also responsible for two similar exposure offences involving lone females.
He was finally arrested when police were called to the home of the two sisters, who had been plagued by Lekhal staring into their bedroom and living-room windows.
He once pushed past both women and fled on his moped when challenged, but returned to peer through a gap in a bedroom blind at one of the sister’s, dressed only in her underwear.
That sister said the repeated incidents left her “tense and anxious” and with an “overwhelming feeling or paranoia” when alone in her own home.
She took four months off work with stress, but had to eventually quit her job because she did not want to travel home late at night and feared anyone walking nearby or riding past on a motorbike.
Her sister said: “I have had serious anxiety due to this incident and the stress has caused significant health concerns.
“I struggle to leave home and cannot arrive home late at night because I am afraid someone is hanging around the house.”
The court previously subjected Lekhal to a Sexual Risk Order that expires in 2024.
“He exposes himself at night at the victims’ home address with a focus on their bedroom, where they may be particularly vulnerable by being asleep or undressed,” added Ms Akister.
Lekhal’s lawyer, who refused to give his name, told the court his client is already under supervision and has not breached the order he is subject to.
“He knows the harm he has done. He is married with a three month-old baby and his wife is in court today,” said the lawyer.
He told the court Lekhal lost his Deliveroo job when the police reported the Sexual risk Order to the company.
“The damage has been done and he blames no-one but himself. He is very sorry and knows one mistake and he will go to prison.”
The magistrates sentenced Lekhal to one year’s imprisonment, suspended for two years and ordered him to complete up to sixty days of a rehabilitation activity requirement.
He must pay £85 costs a £128 victim surcharge and comply with a restraining order prohibiting him from entering the residential roads of his victims.
“We have heard you are of previous good character and the remorse that you have and we are prepared to believe that and you entered early guilty plea,” announced Mr Lonsdale.
“It is far more likely you will get help for your issues outside the prison system.”
