A man who attempted to have sex with a 14-year-old girl in a Cardiff park has been jailed for two years after screaming abuse at the judge sentencing him and storming out of his video link room mid-hearing.
Abdirahman Osman, 44, who lived in the Roath area of Cardiff, was found guilty of attempting to engage a child in sexual activity following an incident involving a group of schoolgirls at a local park. Attending his sentencing hearing from custody via video link, Osman told Judge Lucy Crowther he wished to return to Kenya before shouting “f**k your country” and walking off camera back to his cell.
The court heard that Osman had approached a group of young girls in the park, calling them “sweeties” and telling them he wanted to be their boyfriend. When the girls told him to leave them alone, he ignored them, asking their ages and attempting to embrace one of the children. He then tried to lure one girl back to his home under the pretence of needing help, and when she approached him, asked her to perform a sexual act.
The victim immediately ran back to her friends and police were contacted. When arrested, Osman denied any wrongdoing, telling officers: “I didn’t touch anyone.”
In her victim impact statement, the girl described how the incident had changed her life. “Since this incident I feel wary of people and scared of people who look like him,” she said, adding that she no longer goes out alone and avoids the Roath Park area entirely because she finds it too distressing to return.
“Following the incident I am shocked and distressed a man can say things like this and leave me feeling worried and upset,” she told the court.
The court was told Osman had previous convictions for battery and robbery. Alongside the two-year prison sentence, he was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for ten years.
