Syrian refugee accused of sex attacks 'ignored woman's pleas to be left alone'

A Syrian refugee accused of sexually assaulting two women followed one of his alleged victims for more than half an hour despite her pleading with him to leave her alone, a trial has heard.

Muhammad Sheikhi, 23, is accused of carrying out the attacks in Falkirk during the early hours of Sunday 30 November 2025.

Sheikhi is said to have sexually assaulted one woman with intent to rape her in Kerse Lane and Bellsmeadow skate park, close to the Hotel Cladhan where he was staying at the time.

Prosecutors also allege he attacked a second woman at Kerse Lane.

A trial at Stirling Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday that one of the women encountered Sheikhi on the street when she came out of a nightclub at about 2.30am.

Giving evidence from behind a screen, the woman said she tried to walk past the defendant but that he "put his phone in [her] face" and began following her as she walked to a friend's house, despite her asking him "numerous times" to leave her alone.

She said: "I told him at the beginning to stop following me, I told him walking through the street, I told him at the skate park to stop following me, at [my friend's house].

"I told him to leave me alone numerous times."

She claimed he was using Google Translate on his mobile phone to communicate with her, and that at one point she typed into it to leave her alone.

During the journey it is alleged that Sheikhi seized her and pinned her against a tree, before sexually assaulting her.

Jurors were shown CCTV footage taken at 2.40am and camera doorbell footage at 3.14am, which show the pair walking side by side, with her wearing his shoes and he in his socks.

The woman told the court Sheikhi had put his shoes on her feet after taking hers off her.

The indictment alleges Sheikhi had removed her shoes to prevent her leaving.

Another doorbell clip from 3.27am showed the woman crouched on the ground pleading for him to return her shoes and to stop touching her.

In another clip from 3.44am, she could be heard saying: "Please leave me alone."

Sheikhi's lawyer, Paul Keenan, put it to the woman his client had given her his shoes as one of hers was broken, and that he had just been trying to make sure she got home safely.

He also put it to her "nothing sexual of any type at any time occurred on [the] evening in question".

She rejected this.

Jurors heard that by the time the woman reached her friend's house she was "hysterical".

Giving evidence, her friend said he was woken up by a "pounding" on his door and the woman "screaming and shouting".

However, he said he could not open his door to let her in as he had lost his key, so instead he held her hand through the letterbox until her mother arrived 20-30 minutes later.

The witness said she seemed "distressed" and "worried", and that she told him a man had been following her.

Asked whether the man was still there, he said he could see a man "standing there" across the road.

The court was also shown Snapchat messages the woman sent to her friend in the days following the incident in which she discussed the man allegedly trying to kiss her and touch her inappropriately.

In a further message, she wrote: "I have bruises down my arm."

Asked by Mr Keenan whether at any point when she was outside his house the woman mentioned an alleged sexual assault or asked him to call the police, the witness said no.

The man added: "Maybe she would not want to speak about something like that to me. Maybe the next day she decided that she would let me know."

Sheikhi denies all the charges against him.

The trial, before Sheriff Keith O'Mahony, continues.

(c) Sky News 2026: Syrian refugee accused of sex attacks 'ignored woman's pleas to be left alone'