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A "dangerous" sexual predator who targeted drunk women and molested a woman in a pub toilet after pretending to be a bouncer has been jailed for six years.
Mohammed Mohammed was hunting for "intoxicated" victims in the pub in Darlington back in July 2024, Teesside Crown Court heard.
The 24-year-old Sudanese refugee had been harassing women before following one into a cubicle and forcefully groping her, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Mohammed deliberately stationed himself next to the female toilets and, throughout the course of half an hour, confronted a number of women, prosecutor Paul Newcombe told the court.
Mr Newcombe said he blocked the path of one, tried to kiss another and touched the hair of a third as well as trying to speak to others, with their reactions making it clear his behaviour was "not welcome".
When the victim went into the toilets, Mohammed grabbed her by the arm, asked her to dance and said he liked her – all of which the woman rejected, Mr Newcombe said.
She went into a bathroom cubicle, but Mohammed followed her into the room and knocked on the door claiming he was a bouncer and needed to see her ID, it was reported.
When she opened the door of the cubicle, Mohammed pushed her back inside against a wall, undid his belt and groped her under her dress.
He "ignored" her pleas as she repeatedly told him no, the court heard.
The attack came to an end when a friend of the victim came in and distracted him. Door staff were called and Mohammed was arrested, later claiming to police he had gone in to "help" after he heard her screaming.
In a statement, the victim said the attack had made her a "different person".
She added she could no longer go to the toilet in public places alone, avoided the company of men and had changed the way she dressed.
In mitigation, Sophie Johnstone said Mohammed had fled Sudan after his home was attacked, and his mother lived in a refugee camp.
'Trickery and force'
However, Judge Jonathan Carroll said he accepted Mohammed had refugee status but the molester's claims about his past had come "exclusively" from himself and he had already been found to be "dishonest".
The judge said Mohammed was "determined to find a woman" and do whatever he wanted with her, which "proved to be a disaster" for the victim.
The added Mohammed used a "combination of trickery and force" before carrying out his "forceful sexual attack".
"Such conduct drives a dagger into the sense of safety both of [the victim] and of all women who want to do something as innocent as simply enjoying a night out with friends," Jude Jonathan Carroll added.
He said Mohammed was a "dangerous offender" and had been assessed as posing a "high risk of serious harm" to others.
Mohammed, who lived in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, admitted sexual assault but lodged an application to vacate his plea, which was rejected by a judge but led to a year of delay and "distress" for the victim.
On Thursday, he was jailed for five years, 11 months and two weeks, and will have to serve a further three years on extended licence upon his release from prison.
