A Somali asylum seeker, who had repeatedly dodged prison despite a string of violent offences, has finally been jailed after threatening a police officer with a knife outside a controversial migrant hotel in Bournemouth.
A Catalogue of Offences and Repeated Leniency
Shafi Abdi Momad, 30, arrived in the UK in 2020 but quickly amassed a criminal record. His offences included attacking a shop worker in South London, spitting at a police officer, and flouting court orders. Despite these actions, he managed to avoid immediate custody on three separate occasions in just nine months.
In March, after the racially aggravated assault on shop worker Ben Velayunthapillai, Momad was given a community order and 100 hours of unpaid work. By September, after pleading guilty to assaulting an emergency worker by spitting at PC Browning during a drunken disturbance at the Roundhouse Hotel, he received only a 12-month conditional discharge and a £50 compensation order.
The Final Offence That Led to Custody
Momad's luck ran out in the early hours of December 7. Police were called to a disturbance at the Roundhouse migrant hotel in Bournemouth, Dorset, where Momad was in a 'very angry' state. Poole Magistrates' Court heard how he pulled an 8cm blade from his coat pocket, fled the scene, and was later detained. The knife was found buried under leaves nearby.
Most chillingly, Momad told an officer: 'I carry my knife. When I kill someone here, you come for me.' He admitted possession of a bladed article in a public place.
Sentencing and Wider Context
At his fourth magistrates' court appearance in nine months, Momad was jailed for five-and-a-half months. Furthermore, a previously suspended six-week prison sentence for failing to comply with his community order was activated.
The Roundhouse Hotel is one of three in Bournemouth used to house asylum seekers, a policy that has sparked significant local protest. The area has seen dozens of criminal charges brought against individuals accommodated there.
This case highlights the challenges faced by the justice system in dealing with repeat offenders within the asylum accommodation system and the eventual consequences of persistent criminal behaviour.
