Syrian refugee raped woman (19) in beach promenade toilet after giving her a lift on his e-bike because she was lost, court hears

A Syrian refugee raped a lost young woman in a beach toilet after offering her a lift home on the back of his e-bike, a court heard today.

The 19-year-old woman was walking home alone along Bournemouth’s seafront after a night out on July 6 last year when she came across Mohammed Abdullah and a group of friends.

Her phone battery was dead, so she asked them to look at a map on one of their phones to see where she was going.

She agreed to let Abdullah, 19, give her a lift on his bicycle but they had only gone a short distance before he stopped next to a portal, a jury heard.

He allegedly dragged the woman to the toilet block, where he pushed her against a wall and sexually assaulted her, before locking her in the toilet cubicle and raping her.

Abdullah then cycled back to his friends while the young woman ran off in the opposite direction.

She stopped a bystander and used their phone to call her mother and tell her, “I was raped.”
Abdullah, who arrived in Britain in 2023 under the family reunification program and was granted permanent residency, was arrested at his home in West Drayton, Middlesex, eight days later on July 14.

He is now on trial at Bournemouth Crown Court charged with rape and sexual assault by penetration, which he denies.

The 19-year-old woman was walking home alone along Bournemouth’s seafront after a night out when she came across Mohammed Abdullah (pictured) and a group of friends.

The court heard the complainant had been drinking with a friend but at the end of the night they went their separate ways.

Mark Eldridge, prosecuting, said: ‘(The complainant) was having some problems with her phone, which was low on battery. Finally she decided to walk along the seafront to Boscombe Pier.

“She saw a group of five or six men who appeared to be in their early twenties. They sat on a bench, one had a bicycle. She went up to them and asked if they could look at their cards since her phone was dead.

‘The defendant said: “I’m taking you, I’m taking you”.’

Shortly before the alleged attack, a passing couple had seen Abdullah carrying the complainant, jurors were told.

The court heard the woman asked him: ‘What are you doing with her? I hope you’re not going to do anything with her?’

Then they lost sight of them and walked on.

“(The complainant) recalled being pinned with her back against the outside of one of the portaloos,” the prosecutor said.

‘The defendant lifted her leg and put his hand under her skirt. She writhed and tried to fight, but then thought it would go faster if she let it happen.”

Abdullah then allegedly grabbed her arm, dragged her into the portaloo and locked the door.

The young woman estimated the attack lasted five to eight minutes before Abdullah left and cycled back to his friends, the court heard.

She took off her shoes so she could run and went to get help. She then stopped a passerby and asked if he could borrow his phone to call her mother.

Mr Eldridge said: ‘She said, “I need to be arrested, something has happened and I’ve been raped.”

She then spoke to another passerby and told him she had been raped. He suggested calling the police and waiting with her until they arrived.

The young woman was taken to hospital. Police described her as ‘calm’ when she told what had happened, but the court heard she burst into tears when her mother arrived.

The woman told police: ‘I told myself something is going to happen here, I have to remember what I saw, I just knew something was wrong.

‘His friends were sitting some distance away, I could still see them. I remember being stuck. I tried to fight a little.

‘People were walking by, I heard people, I tried to say something, but no one was paying attention.

“I remember being grabbed by the arm and being dragged into the portable toilet. He made me come forward and lifted my skirt.

‘I remember him saying in the toilet: “You want, you want”, I said no. I just let it happen, I thought it would be over faster that way. I didn’t want to fight back too much and then his friends showed up. There were more of them than me.’

She then described walking and calling for help, but she couldn’t see anyone for “miles.”

She saw an older man and said, “For some reason I felt comfortable enough to go up to him and asked if I could walk behind him because I was scared. I was in an absolute state at that moment.”

She admitted that she had been feeling “pretty drunk” but sobered up a bit on the walk home.

She said: ‘I was obviously still drunk but I could walk, I didn’t fall over or anything. I couldn’t protect myself, I didn’t feel strong enough, but I knew what was going on.’

Abdullah told police they had consensual sex.

The process continues.