A young woman who was allegedly raped by a Syrian refugee in a beach toilet broke down in court as she recalled how she ‘froze’ and whimpered ‘like a puppy’ as he attacked her.
The 20-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was walking home along Bournemouth promenade in the early hours of July 6 last year when she encountered Mohammed Abdullah and a group of friends.
Bournemouth Crown Court heard that Abdullah, 19, offered to give the woman – who was also 19 at the time – a ride on the back of a hired Beryl bike.
After she accepted the ride he stopped the bike and dragged her towards a portable toilet on the seafront.
Speaking to the court she gave harrowing details of how she felt helpless and ‘just gave up’ as Mohammed Abdullah forced himself on her.
At one stage he reportedly asked her, ‘You like, you like?’, to which she said no but he carried on regardless.
The woman had been on a night out with friends before they all travelled home separately. She was unable to call a taxi to take her home as her mobile phone had died and so she started walking along the promenade.
After she accepted a ride on Abdullah’s bike, he is alleged to have pinned her against the outside wall of the toilet where he first sexually assaulted her before then allegedly raping her inside the toilet.
Pictured: Mohammed Abdullah who allegedly raped and sexually assaulted a young woman, 20, in a portable toilet on Bournemouth promenade
Pictured: Bournemouth promenade. The woman, who was 19 at the time, was walking home along the seafront walkway in the early hours of July 6 last year when she encountered Abdullah and a group of friends
Abdullah has denied rape and sexual assault.
The woman said: ‘I told myself something is going to happen here, I need to remember what I have seen, I just knew something wasn’t right.
‘I remember being pinned. I tried to fight a little bit. I couldn’t really do anything, I was in shock. I was whimpering, like a puppy dog, when you are hurt. I was crying.
‘He said “you like” – obviously I said no but he wasn’t listening.
‘When I realised I wasn’t going to be able to go anywhere, I just gave up. I was just hoping it was going to be over.
‘People walked past, I heard people, I tried to say something but nobody paid any attention. My face was towards the wall, I couldn’t turn my face to look.’
Abdullah is then alleged to have bundled her into the portable toilet, locked the door and raped her.
She said: ‘I remember getting my arm grabbed and getting dragged into the portable toilet. He forced me over and lifted my skirt. I just froze.
Pictured: Bournemouth Crown Court where Abdullah is charged with rape and sexual assault which he has denied
Abdullah allegedly sexually assualted the woman outside the portable toilet. It is claimed he then bundled her into the portable toilet, locked the door and raped her
‘In the toilet I remember he said “you like, you like” – I was saying no.
‘I just allowed it to happen, I thought it would be over quicker that way. I didn’t want to fight back too much and then his friends come. There were more of them than me.
‘I thought, just get through this and then you can get out of here and get help.’
After having spent the evening drinking, the complainant said she was vulnerable because she was drunk at the time of the incident.
She told the court: ‘I feel if I had been sober, it wouldn’t have happened. I would have been able to protect myself more, push him off me more.
‘I couldn’t do anything, I was drunk, I was in a very vulnerable state. I was walking home by myself, I had no phone.’
She described walking away afterwards and calling for help but being unable to see anyone ‘for miles’.
She said: ‘I was walking down the beach shouting hello, I was crying, I was in a bit of a state. I was stressing, I didn’t know how I was going to get help.’
The woman told of spotting an older gentleman, adding: ‘For some reason I felt comfortable enough to approach him and asked if I could walk behind him because I was scared. I was in an absolute state by this point.’
The young woman got upset when she was shown the skirt she was wearing on the night, with a tear to the front.
Asked how that damage had happened, she said: ‘He lifted my leg quite aggressively and put his hand up my skirt quite aggressively and it was ripped.’
Abdullah, who came to the UK from Syria in 2023 under the family reunion scheme and lives in West Drayton in west London, denies rape and sexual assault.
The trial continues.
