A man has been jailed for a total of four years for carrying out a serious sexual assault on a woman in Bournemouth.
Syrian-born Amine Chahine, 19 and of no fixed abode, was sentenced on Friday 15 April at Bournemouth Crown Court after pleading guilty at the same court on 11 March to sexual assault by penetration and a second count of sexual assault.
The court heard that at around 4am on Sunday 6 December 2015 a woman returned home following a night out when she received a call from a friend asking her to get some money out to pay for a taxi.
As the woman walked to a cashpoint outside Tesco Express in Charminster Road she became aware of a man behind her. She withdrew some cash and Chahine said something which the victim cannot recall.
The victim feared Chahine was going to steal the money so she ran away into Stewart Road only stopping when her legs grew tired and she believed she had lost Chahine. At this point Chahine caught up with his victim and subjected her to a serious sexual assault, the court was told.
The victim managed to escape and ran to a nearby house to call for help. Chahine ran away from the scene when the member of public shouted at him.
The court heard that Chahine was identified via CCTV images and was arrested on Wednesday 23 December 2015 on Wandsworth Road in London.
Detective Constable Neil Third, of Dorset Police’s Serious Sexual Offences Team, said: “Amine Chahine is a dangerous man who targeted an innocent woman as she walked alone in a community she should have felt safe in.
“He subjected his victim to a terrifying attack which has caused her immense distress and has left her traumatised and feeling extremely vulnerable.
“I hope the sentence handed out to Chahine will bring her some small comfort that the man responsible is behind bars and cannot harm anyone else.
“Dorset Police takes reports of sexual offences extremely seriously. We will do everything we can to find those responsible and bring them to justice.”
Dorset Police has not issued a custody image of Amine Chahine at the direct request of his victim. She has not seen an image of him and does not want to know what he looks like.
