Man who sexually assaulted woman and tried to drag her back to hotel room after corridor chase is jailed

A man who chased a naked woman through a corridor in a Dublin hotel having just pinned her down to a bed, threatened her and sexually assaulted her, has been jailed for six years.

Mamadou Alpha Bah (27) had met the 43-year-old woman a month earlier and they had been exchanging messages before arranging to meet that night, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.

Inspector Brian Hunt told Ed O’Mahony BL, prosecuting, that the woman went for drinks with Bah before they walked back together to the hotel in Dublin city centre. He invited her into his room and she voluntarily went there with him.

They had a few beers together and chatted before the woman got up to get a taxi.

Inps Hunt said Bah then pushed the woman back onto the bed and pinned her there. She later told gardaí he had “the look of the devil”.

He ordered her to take off her clothes and threatened to break her neck if she didn’t, before he sexually assaulted her through her clothes. He punched the woman and continually tried to force her legs open.

The woman asked to go to the bathroom and Bah let her up, but followed her in. He then went to use the toilet himself and the woman managed to escape from the hotel room.

Insp Hunt said Bah chased the woman through the hotel corridor shouting at her: “Get back in b***h.”

She fell to the ground and he tried to drag her back to the room, but the woman continually shouted for help and a couple ultimately came to her aid, Insp Hunt said.

Bah, of The View, St Wolstans Abbey, Celbridge, Co Kildare, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexual assault and assault causing harm to the woman at the hotel on September 2, 2020.

Insp Hunt confirmed that while Bah had no previous convictions at the time of the offence, he has since been convicted of sexual assault and false imprisonment of a woman in August 2021.

In October 2023, he received a five-year sentence with one suspended at Naas Circuit Criminal Court for this offence. He is due for release in October 2025.

Insp Hunt said the woman at the Dublin hotel later told gardaí she was in fear and felt she would be met with further physical harm if she didn’t comply with Bah.

Bah was still wrapped in a towel when gardaí arrived and he was identified as a suspect. He was interviewed a number of times by gardaí but made no admissions.

The forensic analysis that was carried out was not of evidential value, but gardaí sourced CCTV footage that captured the chase in the corridor.

Insp Hunt agreed with John Peart SC, defending, that his client pleaded guilty on the morning of his trial.

Mr Peart told the court that his client was remorseful and apologises to the victim. There are deportation orders in place following his ultimate release from prison.

Judge Martin Nolan said what happened that night could be described as “a violent sexual assault” during which the woman was forced to take off her clothes.

He said the headline sentence was in the region of eight to nine years, “by reason of the violence involved”, having taken into account the maximum penalty available to the court was 10 years.

Judge Nolan said Bah’s plea of guilty was “late” but “valuable”. He took into account that Bah was an African national who speaks French and as such, would have difficulty in prison because he has little English.

He jailed Bah for six years.

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