Afghan Asylum Seeker Sexually Assaulted Two Women as He Delivered Takeaways to Their Homes

An asylum seeker who had overstayed his right to be in the UK sexually assaulted two women while he delivered takeaways to their homes.

Shafiullah Rasooli, 29, was working illegally when he used his friend’s registration details to deliver food to people in and around the town of Maidstone, Kent.

A court heard that on July 26 and July 3 this year he touched the breasts of two of his customers and ran his hands over their upper bodies.

Rasooli, who is from Afghanistan, was later identified and charged with three counts of sexual assault, two of which were against the same victim.

He denied the allegations, claiming that ‘hugging to the side’ was a common method of saying goodbye in his home country.

However, the 29-year-old was found guilty of all the charges at Sevenoaks Magistrates’ Court on October 1.

Terry Knox, prosecuting, told the hearing: ‘He’s an immigration overstayer and now his application to stay [longer] has now been formally rejected.

‘He came to [one victim’s] address and she recognised him from [delivering food] two weeks earlier.

‘He then steps over the threshold of the door, so the assault happened in her own home.

‘He had one foot in the door and one foot outside, and they had a conversation about her cat, and he said he could take the cat home.

‘He then asked her her name and age and told her she looks young for her age, and then he gestures to the sofa and says to her, “No boyfriend or friends [at home]”.

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Mr Knox then told the court that the woman said the second sexual assault was carried out in a similar manner.

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Mr Knox told the court that Rasooli was remanded in custody in August because his immigration status was an overstayer.

But the prosecutor said at that stage he didn’t know whether Rasooli would be detained by immigration authorities if he was released.

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