Muhammad Sheikhi was sentenced at Stirling Sheriff Court on Monday, after being found guilty at a trial in May.
A “predatory” refugee who sexually assaulted two women in Falkirk has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Muhammad Sheikhi was sentenced at Stirling Sheriff Court on Monday, after being found guilty at a trial in May.
Sheriff Keith O’Mahony called the assaults “deliberate and predatory”.
The sheriff said that considering the seriousness of the crimes, he was imposing a sentence at the upper end of his sentencing powers.
Sheikhi was also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely and ordered not to contact or approach the victims for a period of 10 years.
Paul Keenan, defending Sheikhi, said his client is a Syrian refugee who had fled the “terror of Isis” and that he maintains his innocence.
The 23-year-old carried out both attacks in the early hours of Sunday November 30, close to the Hotel Cladhan where he had been staying.
He targeted the first woman at a railway bridge on Kerse Lane, where he hugged her, repeatedly kissed her on the face and mouth, and put his hands under her skirt.
He then sexually assaulted a second woman in Kerse Lane and the nearby Bellsmeadow skate park, where he pinned her against a tree before putting his hands under her clothing.
Both of his victims were in their early 20s and both had been walking home alone after nights out in the town centre.
Sheikhi, who came to the UK by boat, had denied the charges and told police he had just been “roaming around” as he did not have anyone to socialise with in his hotel.
However, following a four-day free trial at Stirling Sheriff Court in May, a jury found him guilty of both charges after three hours of deliberation.
At the time, prosecutor Jamie Hilland said Sheikhi had acted in a “predatory” manner towards the two women.
