SYRIAN REFUGEE JAILED FOR SEXUAL ASSAULTS ON TWO WOMEN IN FALKIRK

Muhammad Sheikhi, a 23-year-old Syrian refugee, was sentenced to four years in prison at Stirling Sheriff Court for sexually assaulting two women in Falkirk in November 2025. The assaults occurred in the early hours of 30 November, within little over an hour of each other, after both victims left nightclubs in the town centre. Sheikhi was arrested in his room at the Cladhan Hotel, a facility housing migrant residents. Sheriff Keith O'Mahony described the assaults as "deliberate and predatory" and stated he imposed the sentence at the upper end of his sentencing powers.

The first attack took place at a railway bridge on Kerse Lane, where Sheikhi hugged the victim, repeatedly kissed her on the face and mouth, and placed his hands under her skirt. He then sexually assaulted a second woman in the same area and at nearby Bellsmeadow skate park, pinning her against a tree and placing his hands under her clothing. Both victims were in their early 20s and walking home alone. Sheikhi denied the charges and told police he had been "roaming around" because he had no one to socialise with at his hotel. Following a four-day trial and three hours of jury deliberation in May, he was found guilty of both charges.

Sheikhi was placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely and ordered not to contact or approach either victim for ten years. Defence counsel Paul Keenan stated his client was a Syrian refugee who had fled the threat of conflict. The Cladhan Hotel has previously been the location of protests involving both pro and anti-immigration demonstrators.