A Teesside man has been convicted of sexually assaulting two different women in the same week.
Kouror Hassanzadeh, 28, of Lancaster Way, Thornaby-on-Tees, admitted two charges of sexual assault when he appeared at Teesside Magistrates' Court on Monday, 6th September 2021.
Sexual assault is an offence under section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. It is an either way offence with a maximum penalty of 10 years' custody on conviction on indictment, 6 months' custody and/or an unlimited fine on summary conviction. We have discussed this offence in greater detail in an earlier article.
Hassanzadeh had attended court to face trial on one of the offences, but changed his plea at the last moment.
Anne Mitchell, prosecuting, outlined the circumstances of the offences to the court.
Ms Mitchell said that the victim of the first assault had been shopping alone in the Asda store in Thornaby on Sunday, 2nd May 2021.
She became aware that a male "was looking at her" and noticed the same male again when she moved to a different aisle.
Hassanzadeh then "grabbed her bottom with some grip" before grabbing it a second time.
He then told her "I really want to have sex with you", before following her and touching her bottom for a third time.
The victim reported the incident to a shop assistant, who in turn alerted a security guard. Hassanzadeh was then escorted from the store.
The second assault, which Hassanzadeh had previously admitted, took place on Tuesday, 4th May 2021, when he stepped out in front of a female jogger and grabbed her bottom.
He told the jogger "with an arse that looks that nice you have to grab it", before adding "I'm not going to hurt you - I just want one kiss and I'll leave you alone".
Daniel Burke, mitigating, said that his client was a man "of previous good character", who had previously experienced mental health problems and been treated as an inpatient at Roseberry Park Hospital, Middlesbrough.
He said that Hassanzadeh "doesn't recall" the sexual assaults and is "working with various professionals".
Magistrates adjourned the case pending the completion of a pre-sentence report.
Hassanzadeh was granted conditional bail until his sentencing hearing at the same court on Friday, 15th October 2021.
This kind of offence is always distressing for the victim concerned, but there are several aspects of this particular case, as reported, that I find deeply disturbing - Hassanzadeh's deliberate and brazen targeting of the women, deeply inappropriate comments, false sense of entitlement, apparently lack of remorse and making contact with the women multiple times.
It'll be interesting to see if the bench considers the totality of these offences so serious that only a custodial sentence is appropriate.
I would also like to think that Asda will reflect on the actions of its security guard, who seems to have removed Hassanzadeh from the store instead of detaining him and calling the police.
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