A 20-year-old Syrian national has appeared in court charged with raping a woman in a seaside town. Huessei Al Ahmed allegedly attacked a woman at Wootton Mount, an apartment block in the town centre of Bournemouth, Dorset, on the night of June 16 last year.
Court Appearance
Ahmed, who spoke only to confirm his name and address via an Arabic interpreter during his appearance at Weymouth Magistrates' Court, gave his address as the Roundhouse Hotel, one of three migrant hotels in Bournemouth. The court heard that he was in the process of claiming asylum, but the outcome was unknown.
Defending, Paul Legg said: 'He is from Syria and he has been staying at the Roundhouse Hotel. I don't believe the outcome of his asylum claim has been reached.'
Ahmed was remanded in custody and is due to appear at Winchester Crown Court on June 18.
Migrant Hotels in Bournemouth
Large protests took place outside the hotels on Meyrick Road in August last year. Hundreds of asylum seekers have been put up in hotels in the seaside town. Across Bournemouth and the neighbouring towns of Christchurch and Poole, 618 asylum seekers were recorded in January, the majority of which have been housed in hotels.
In 2014, coachloads of migrants arrived in Bournemouth where they were given taxpayer-funded beds and three meals a day at two hotels, including at the three-star Roundhouse Hotel. The wave of immigrants arriving from Calais had caused 'overcrowding' issues at detention centres in the London area, so hundreds were moved into hotels on the coast.
Migrants previously told the Daily Mail that they would rather return to their native countries than carry on living in Bournemouth. Business owners, locals and holidaymakers in October laid bare the sharp decline they had witnessed in the town over the last few years, revealing their shock at 'zombie' drug addicts and balaclava-clad youths wreaking havoc.
With many fearing tourists could soon start shunning the town, the Home Office has ensured there are at least some arrivals after converting three hotels into accommodation for asylum seekers. On Meyrick Road, a wide tree-lined street leading down to one of Britain's best beaches, the 102-room Roundhouse Hotel and the 123-room Britannia Hotel are being used to house migrants. Further along the coast, in Boscombe, is the 79-room Chine Hotel.
Community Tensions
Like many communities around the country, Bournemouth was last summer at the centre of migrant hotel protests, exacerbated by asylum seekers living there committing violent crimes in the town. Frustration over the state of the town has even led to a so-called 'vigilante' group setting up to patrol the streets at night. Safeguard Force, who launched in August last year, said they were forced to take action due to the spate of crime and lack of policing in the town.
