A factory worker who choked and sexually assaulted a young woman down a dark alleyway has been jailed for six years.
Mohamed Hallam, an Algerian national living in Donegal since 2023, attacked the woman after picking her in a nightclub when she was out with friends in Letterkenny.
After a trial at the Central Criminal Court last January, the 28-year-old was convicted of sexual assault, assault causing harm, and non-fatal strangulation on October 20, 2024. He had pleaded not guilty to the offences.
Mr Justice David Keane said “these were violent predatory offences carried out by the convicted man for his own sexual gratification”.
He set a headline sentences of eight years for the offences of sexual assault and non-fatal strangulation and six years for the assault causing harm offence. He reduced the sentences by one year to take account of mitigating factors, including Hallam’s acceptance of the jury verdict and acknowledgement of his guilt and his lack of any other criminal offending.
The sentences are concurrent and backdated to October 24th, 2024 when Hallam went into custody. The judge suspended the final year on a number of conditions, including that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour.
In her victim impact statement, the woman told the court that after the assaults she felt an overwhelming sense of disgust and struggled with the knowledge that someone was capable of doing this to her.
The court heard that Hallam moved to Ireland from Algeria in 2023 and was working in a factory in Burnfoot.
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Full court report. Contains some graphic details
A factory worker who choked and sexually assaulted a young woman down a dark alleyway has been jailed for six years.
Mohamed Hallam, an Algerian national living in Donegal since 2023, attacked the woman after picking her in a nightclub when she was out with friends in Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
After a trial at the Central Criminal Court last January, the 28-year-old was convicted of sexual assault, assault causing harm and non-fatal strangulation on October 20, 2024. He had pleaded not guilty to the offences.
Mr Justice David Keane said “these were violent predatory offences carried out by the convicted man for his own sexual gratification”. He said the aggravating factors were “the grave harm” done to the victim and the fact that she was a vulnerable victim on the night because she was “heavily intoxicated”.
He set a headline sentences of eight years for the offences of sexual assault and non-fatal strangulation and six years for the assault causing harm offence. He reduced the sentences by one year to take account of mitigating factors, including Hallam’s acceptance of the jury verdict and acknowledgement of his guilt and his lack of any other criminal offending.
The sentences are concurrent and backdated to October 24, 2024 when Hallam went into custody. The judge suspended the final year on a number of conditions including that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour.
Reading from her own victim impact statement, the woman, who is in her early 20s, told the court that she doesn’t remember meeting the man in the nightclub. She said she remembers finding herself lying on cold concrete “in a cold dark alleyway” being forcefully kissed and touched without her consent.
She said her attacker was using his arm to pin her down and she couldn’t breathe. She said after the assault ended she felt short of breath and her lips were blue.
She had bruises all over her body, including on her chest, stomach, arms and legs. Some of these were large and “deeply painful”, the court heard.
The woman said she was still uncertain how some of the injuries were caused. She was advised that one injury on her stomach may have been a bite mark and she found this extremely disturbing.
The woman had consumed 10 drinks during the night out, including eight vodkas, a “Jager-bomb” and a shot of Tequila and at one point she fell off a stool in the late bar in the town.
At around 2am, she wanted to go home but her friends asked her to stay a bit longer as they wanted to continue dancing. She was on her own and “clearly staggering” when Hallam pulled her on to the dance floor.
They danced and kissed and within four minutes of meeting they left the premises. CCTV footage shows her staggering outside and being “righted” by Hallam who brings her into an alleyway.
Around half an hour later, he came back out from the alleyway and she is recorded leaving a little later. She called a friend and told her that she had been strangled.
When her friends found the victim, she was hysterical. Her jeans, which were new, were ripped with the fastener missing and her top was pulled up over her breasts with only a cardigan covering her up.
The attack was reported that night and gardai began house to house inquiries to identify the scene of the crime. Hallam was identified as a suspect from CCTV footage and gardai searched his home at Robinson Hall in Letterkenny town.
On his arrest, Hallam told gardai “she’s a liar” and he made no comment during interviews. Blood found on his clothing was a match for the victim’s DNA and semen found on her clothing matched his DNA.
Defending counsel, Seamus Costelloe SC, told the court that his client wished to offer a “sincere apology” to the victim. He said he is very remorseful and considers his actions on the night to have been a “gross lapse of judgement”.
“He hopes that at some point in your life you will forgive him,” counsel said, adding that Hallam accepts the jury verdicts.
Referring to a report from the Probation Service assessment, Justice Keane said that he searched the report for any indication of “moral or criminal responsibility” with respect to the three offences but instead found what was “very closely akin to the opposite”.
The judge noted that, according to the report, the defendant “remains adamant” that the injured party agreed to the sexual activity and that it was consensual. He said it appeared what Hallam told the probation officer was “completely at odds” with his instructions to his lawyers.
In her victim impact statement, the woman told the court that after the assaults she felt an overwhelming sense of disgust and struggled with the knowledge that someone was capable of “doing this to me”.
She said the recovery process was painful, invasive and emotionally challenging.
She said that, while she knows it was necessary, she found it “very invasive” to have to hand her phone over to gardai as evidence. She said that having photos of her injuries handed out during the trial made her feel exposed and vulnerable.
She said the impact of the attack has been devastating and continues to affect every part of her life.
Before imposing sentence, Justice Keane said the court was taking into consideration the effects of the offending.
He ordered that Hallam be subject to two years of post-release supervision and engage with offence focused work including psychological counselling and sex offender treatment programme.
The court heard that Hallam moved to Ireland from Algeria in 2023 and was working in a factory in Burnfoot, Co Donegal.
