(Image: Durham Constabulary)
A Bishop Auckland takeaway worker who twice sexually assaulted a woman faces deportation back to Iran after being branded a high risk to women.
Karwan Ahmady, 34, was convicted of attacking the woman twice after a trial last month.
Teesside Crown Court heard he came to the UK in November 2021 seeking a better life and claimed asylum as he feared returning to Iran.
Ahmady, of Gibbon Street, Bishop Auckland, was granted a five-year visa allowing him to work, which the court heard had either expired or was about to expire.
The court heard that apart from his takeaway job, he has also trained as a barber in the UK.
He was remanded in custody and has remained at Holme House Prison, Stockton since February.
His counsel, Laura Miller, told the court he understood the convictions could jeopardise his immigration status and prevent his fiancée in Iran from joining him in the UK.
Her application is understood to depend on his UK immigration status.
But Ms Miller said a sentence of 12 months or more would trigger automatic deportation.
He had already spent seven months on remand and could be released immediately, depending on the sentence.
Ms Miller said it was his first time in custody and he has struggled, but he has put his time behind bars to good use, cutting fellow inmates’ hair and studying to improve his English.
Judge Richard Bennett, who presided over Ahmady’s trial in August, called him an opportunist who sexually assaulted the woman twice, leaving her feeling sick and questioning her trust in men.
“I formed the view during the trial that you seemed incapable of maintaining a credible account.
“I’m satisfied you have a sense of entitlement.”
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He said the Probation Service considered Ahmady a high risk to women and children because of his predatory behaviour on two occasions.
Imposing a 12-month prison sentence, the judge said Ahmady could face automatic deportation when released.
Regardless of the defendant's immigration status, Judge Bennett also put in place a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting or approaching the victim, and ordered him to sign the sex offenders’ register, in both cases for ten years.