Two immigrants sexually attacked a lone middle-aged woman in York city centre after trapping her in a “pincer movement” and marching her down the street where she was repeatedly assaulted.
Djbril Camara, 19, and Abdulazeem Mohammed, 20, are now serving a combined prison sentence of four years and eight months after being jailed at York Crown Court today (Thursday) for what a judge said was akin to abduction.
The court heard that the two men, who were students at York College, had been “on the prowl” in the city’s streets looking for lone females to attack.
The victim’s ordeal occurred on 16 July=, 2022, when Camara and Mohammed sidled up to her after she had seen a friend off in a taxi.
She walked around the corner to a taxi rank to get a cab home, but then Camara and Mohammed “moved in” and “waylaid” her.
The prosecution said that Camara stood in front of the woman, giving the impression that he was a “harmless, cheeky chappie” and “planting a kiss on her lips”.
This gave Mohammed “the opportunity to move in”, trapping the woman in a “pincer movement”.
The two men then stood either side of her and “marched” her up Stonegate towards York Minster.
The victim told the pair, who had both been drinking, that she just wanted to get a taxi and didn’t want to walk with them, but her pleas were ignored and she was “repeatedly” sexually assaulted along Stonegate.
It’s thought the two men were marching the woman towards the Minster to find a quieter place to attack her. As they did so, they talked about “getting back to (the victim’s) place”, but she said “no”.
Good Samaritans
Mercifully, two tourists who happened to be walking around the Minster spotted the woman in distress and “immediately realised something wasn’t right”.
As they went to her aid, Camara held onto the victim as he and Mohammed tried to reassure the Good Samaritans that they were just trying to get her a taxi home.
The prosecution said it was only when the couple threatened to call the police that Mohammed walked off. Camara, however, “hung around, watching”, in the hope that the woman would be left on her own again.
However, the brave tourists stuck by the woman, ensured she got a taxi and even rang her afterwards to make sure she had arrived home safely.
Following their arrests, Mohammed, of Scarborough, was charged with five counts of sexual assault which he denied.
Camara, of Acomb Road, York, was charged with two counts of sexual assault which he denied.
Mohammed was found guilty of all five counts and Camara was found guilty of one of the two sexual assaults of which he was accused.
Throughout the trial, and at today’s sentence hearing, the defendants were assisted by two interpreters.
Faces deportation
The court heard that Mohammed settled in Scarborough after arriving in the UK about four years ago, when he was 16. He lived with foster carers in Scarborough.
A probation officer said that Camara was 17 years’ old when he arrived in the UK in 2022. He was supported by children’s services and initially stayed in a children’s home.
Around the time of the sex attack, he was living in a hostel provided by social care and was studying English and maths at York College, where he met Mohammed.
He had “fled his own country due to concerns around modern slavery and exploitation” and “prioritised his education” after settling in York, spending his spare time playing football and going to the gym.
His latest appeal to remain in the UK had been rejected and he now faced deportation following the inevitable jail sentence.
Camara’s barrister Glenn Parsons said the sex attack “might not have happened if he hadn’t taken strong alcohol that night”.
Jeremy Barton, for Mohammed, said his client “witnessed some terrible things” and “the atrocities of war” as a child growing up in Sudan.
‘On the prowl’
The court heard that the horrifying incident in York had had a “huge” effect on the victim who can’t be named for legal reasons.
Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said CCTV footage of Mohammed and Camara on the night in question, before the attack on the victim, showed they were “on the prowl for such a lone female”.
“Having spotted her, now alone, you both moved in,” added Mr Morris.
“You, Camara, stood in front of her, giving her the impression… you were a harmless, cheeky chappie, standing in front of her and planting a kiss on her lips. That gave you, Mohammed, the opportunity to move in. It was a pincer movement.
“The pair of you then got either side of her and marched her up Stonegate. She did not want to march up Stonegate with you, but you were taking her whether she wanted to or not.
“She was repeatedly groped.”
The judge said he regarded it as “detention and a sustained incident”, although neither of the defendants was charged with abduction.
He said they had deliberately “marched her up towards the Minster, a place which is surrounded by more quiet places, where far fewer people go at night”.
“Luckily for her, (the two tourists)… decided to walk around the Minster: sheer luck,” added Mr Morris.
Mohammed was jailed for two years and eight months and Camara received a two-year jail sentence. They will each serve half of those sentences behind bars but now face deportation.
Mohammed was placed on the sex-offenders’ register for life and Camara for 10 years.
Mr Morris commended the couple who came to the victim’s aid and said they would each receive a £350 reward from public funds.
“Were it not for their prompt action, who knows what might have happened?” added the judge.
“In my view, things could have got a lot worse (without their intervention). I’m going to order that the High Sheriff of North Yorkshire pays an award to both these witnesses… for their public spiritedness in ensuring that this lady got into a taxi and ringing her up to make sure she got home and seeing off her attackers.”