AN illegal migrant sexually assaulted two women on their doorsteps as he delivered food to them while working as a delivery driver – using his friend’s ID.
Shafiullah Rasooli, who is originally from Afghanistan, had overstayed his visa when he carried out the vile assaults.
The 29-year-old used his mate’s registration details as he worked delivering food shopping and takeaways to people in Maidstone, Kent.
But on June 26 and July 3, he sexually assaulted women he delivered food to at the threshold of their own homes.
On one assault, he put one foot inside the door so the woman couldn’t close it.
Margate Magistrates’ Court heard they had a conversation about her cat, and he then said he could “take the cat home”.
Rasooli asked the woman who ordered food what her name and age was before telling her she looked younger.
He then gestured to her sofa and asked: “No boyfriend or friends?”
The woman was “scared and unsettled” so lied to him and said other people were there, KentOnline reported.
Prosecutor Terry Knox recounted for the court: “He gives her the bags [for delivery] and at that point he runs his hands down her body, down her breasts and [upper] body and was smiling as he did so.”
He said the second assault was carried out in a similar manner.
Rasooli was at the second woman’s door when he asked for her age, and again said he was surprised at how old she was.
Mr Knox said: “He then steps over the threshold into her porch and lifted his arm over her shoulder and holds her right breast and does a tapping motion.
“She froze, but didn’t want to show panic, and he said he was a Muslim and didn’t drink alcohol and had a bottle of wine in the vehicle from a previous delivery and would she like a free bottle.
“She said no, but he repeats [the offer] and so she says, ‘go on then’ to get him to leave.”
He went and fetched the win before assaulting her again.
Rasooli grabbed her phone and put his contact details in it before saying he hoped to see her again “soon”.
He went on to call her twice, two days later, and she didn’t pick up.
The woman installed CCTV and security lights afterwards and the court heard she was left terrified of him returning.
She no longer trusts anyone at her door and can’t sleep, unable to hold down a job, from anxiety and stress.
She said: “This used to be my safe place, but he knows where my home is and what my phone number is.”
When arrested and interviewed, Rasooli tried to claim that hugging people to the side is a way of saying goodbye in his country.
He was charged with three counts of sexual assault, two of which are against the same victim, and was remanded in custody because of his status as an overstayer.
Rasooli had denied the charges but was found guilty at Sevenoaks Court.
He has been remanded in custody until his sentencing at Canterbury Crown Court, but no date has been decided yet.
Earlier this year, the Government announced a crackdown on delivery riders who share their accounts with illegal migrants.
Any delivery riders caught sharing their accounts with migrants who have no right to work in the UK will be suspended.
The government is tightening the law by making it a legal requirement for all companies, including the gig economy, to check that anyone working for them has the legal right to do so.
The Sun recently reported that a record number of illegal workers have been arrested in the last year – with more than 8,000 delivery drivers, car wash workers, and nail salon technicians nicked in raids over 12 months.
Under Operation Sterling, arrests rose by 63 per cent from last year, with more than 1,000 illegal immigrants subsequently kicked out of the country.
It is the highest rate of arrests since 2011, when records began, statistics show.
But the first migrant to be convicted of illegally working for Deliveroo since The Sun’s probe was fined just £26 after claiming to be in debt.
Abdullah Merez, 23, admitted working when disqualified by immigration status.
He had been caught in Woking, Surrey, on May 2, but after hearing Merez was in debt and a first-time offender, the court handed him a conditional discharge.
It was not disclosed if Merez arrived here illegally or is here on a visa that does not permit paid work, such as a tourist or volunteer visa.
He is the first person in the past six months to turn up at court to face charges of working illegally as a fast-food delivery rider.
At least three others have been charged but failed to appear since The Sun exposed the racket at multiple migrant hotels.
