Teenager ‘sexually assaulted by Somalian runner at bus stop’ phoned her mother hysterically crying, court hears

The court heard that a teenager who was allegedly sexually assaulted at a bus stop by a Somali runner training with Mo Farah called her mother, crying hysterically afterwards.

The young woman tearfully told her mother: “Don’t yell at me” before revealing she had just been attacked, jurors were told.

Abdinasir Elmi, 26, from Somalia, allegedly dragged the teenager to a park in Bournemouth, Dorset, where he touched her on the evening of April 22 last year.

He pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault at Hants Winchester Crown Court, where he was tried through an interpreter.

He allegedly approached the young woman while she was alone on the street around 22.30 in the evening.

He had been out with friends on their way home and was on his way to another friend’s house where he had arranged to stay.

Elmi is said to have walked up to her, offered to take her safely to the bus, put her in a headlock, forced her into Bournemouth Gardens and attacked her.

The court was told today that Elmi was staying at the Roundhouse Hotel in Bournemouth, which was known to be hosting asylum seekers at the time.

Allegedly, Elmi approached the young man while he was alone, tied him around his neck and dragged him to the park.

It is not known when he entered England, but he has been training at Bournemouth Athletics Club since October 2024.

He had previously trained with the British gold medalist Olympic team in Somalia, according to a report from Bournemouth Athletic Club in October.

Oliver Hirsch, prosecuting the case, claimed Elmi digitally penetrated the girl and touched her without her consent.

It is alleged that he ‘stalked’ himself and his friends and approached the teenager as the others were leaving to go home.

In a written statement read in court, the 18-year-old boy’s mother said she fell asleep while waiting for a message from her daughter informing her that she had returned safely to her friend’s house.

He said: ‘I slept briefly and then woke up to my phone ringing. [My daughter] He was on the phone. She sounded hysterical and I could hear her crying.

‘He kept saying, “Don’t attack me, don’t yell at me.”‘

Her mother said she warned her daughter to go out in Bournemouth town center and risk being attacked or raped.

Apparently he said it would be okay since he was 18 and an adult.

His mother said: ‘I remember’ [my daughter] She went to see her friend and her boyfriend.

‘That night I was in bed at my home address and waiting on my phone. [my daughter] to contact me.

‘He told me he was planning to stay at his friend’s house. I fell asleep for a short while.

‘He told me this [her friend’s] My mother came with a two-seater car and said she would take the bus.

‘He said the man approached him and said he would make sure the man got to the bus stop safely.

She explained that he had his arm around her. He explained that he had tightened his control over himself.

‘He told me you put it around his neck and walked him towards the gardens.’

The mother said that after the alleged attack, her daughter managed to escape to find her boyfriend and friends.

That evening, her mother called the police and they went to pick her up from her boyfriend’s house.

Police Officer Kate Ementon said she attended that night to talk to the 18-year-old girl.

He said: ‘[The girl] ‘He found it difficult to talk about the incident and found it very distressing.’

The girl told police she did not know the man and could not identify him.

Her mother said she was more affected by the incident than she thought.

He said: ‘It’s more closed now.

‘He doesn’t go out as much anymore and then he didn’t play for Bournemouth for a few months.’

Elmi gave a non-commentary interview to police when he was first arrested in September last year.

Mr. Hirsch said Elmi now claims the incident was consensual.

The trial continues.