Persistent sex offender jailed and deemed "dangerous"
A persistent sex offender whose assaults on four women in St Helens left them shocked and traumatised, has been jailed and deemed as “dangerous”.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that Abdul Rahman, 38, sexually assaulted two women in a leisure centre and appeared at the foot of the bed of a third woman while she was asleep. He also sexually assaulted a teenager in an alleyway when she had become separated from her friends.
He assaulted two of the women in the swimming pool at St Helens Leisure centre on 26 and 29 June last year.
He got talking to one of the woman when she was in the pool with her daughter and then followed her into the sauna where he sexually assaulted her.
After this incident, she left the centre and noticed he had accessed one of her social media accounts and liked her pictures. She later contacted the police.
A couple of days later he got talking to another woman in the pool area and followed her into the sauna and then the steam room, where he sexually assaulted her and she left. She reported the incident and Rahman was arrested.
On 17 July he sexually assaulted an 18-year-old girl in an alleyway after she’d become separated from her friends. She ran away and was able to locate police in St Helens town centre.
In the early hours of the morning on 24 July, he trespassed into the grounds of accommodation near the leisure centre and got into one of the ground floor flats via a window. His fourth victim woke up to find him standing at the bottom of her bed. He said “sorry” and then left. She reported the incident and CCTV showed Rahman getting in.
On 31 July, the same woman heard noises outside of her flat in the night and opened the curtains to see Rahman standing there, looking straight at her. He blew her a kiss before running off.
Rahman was arrested and questioned about all of the offences and was charged with four counts of sexual assault, one count of trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence and one count of voyeurism.
He denied everything but was found guilty of the sexual offences at the leisure centre and also the trespassing with intent to commit a sexual offence and voyeurism offences. He pleaded guilty to the sexual assaults in St Helens town centre at the start of the trial.
He was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on 16 November 2023 to seven years in jail and three years on extended licence. The Judge deemed Rahman to be a persistent and dangerous sexual offender.
Karen Nolan, a specially trained lawyer in CPS Mersey Cheshire’s Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) unit, said: “Abdul Rahman’s offending became increasingly ominous and serious as he went on. He refused to take no for an answer when the women in the leisure centre made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with him. He assaulted them anyway.
“He terrified a young woman in an alleyway and assaulted her when she couldn’t get away. It’s unclear what he might have done if she hadn’t managed to escape.
“In the fourth incident, he got into the flat of a woman he didn’t know at all and stood at the bottom of her bed. He made off but the following night, he trespassed into the grounds again and, later, she drew her curtains to see him facing her.
“The Crown Prosecution Service would like to thank these women for the support they have shown in this case. They have helped bring this man to justice on all of his offending, despite his denials. They have been left deeply distressed by what happened to them and one of them has felt forced to leave her home.
“Rahman had not thought of what his actions would do to his victims. He has now been brought to justice and we hope this helps them to move forward with their lives.”