A TEENAGE girl has courageously told of her ordeal after she was sexually assaulted by a stranger in broad daylight.

The girl was walking in Rodbourne in October last year when she came across a drunk Mustapha Bashar, who groped and forcibly kissed her.

In a statement to Swindon Crown Court on Monday (August 8), the girl revealed she had to throw away the clothes she was wearing on that day, did not want to go out on her own and was left questioning ‘why me’.

Bashar was allowed to walk out of the courtroom after Judge James Townsend imposed a suspended sentence.

He said there was a chance of tackling his problems, including alcohol use, and said “the best chance of giving protection for young women in the future” is a suspended sentence.

Earlier, the court had been told that the girl had been walking along the street at around 4pm when she saw two men approaching.

She said one was “unsteady on his feet and slouching”, and as she tried to walk around them, Bashar stepped out to stop her.

“He asked her where she lived, and asked her ‘can I have your phone number’ and kept repeating the same sentence: ‘You are beautiful’,” prosecutor Rebecca Fairbairn told the court.

She eventually gave him her phone number because she was “intimidated and fearful”.

“As she was trying to leave, he then tried calling her several times, and he then grabbed her tightly by the arm and yanked her back towards him, claiming the phone wasn’t ringing.

“He wrapped his arms around her waist and forcibly hugged her before trying to kiss her on the lips.”

Bashar, 27, groped her, before she was able to make her escape. As she was fleeing, she took a video of them from behind.

In an interview with police, the young victim said she’s “more on edge and more uncomfortable walking around on my own” since the incident.

She referenced hearing about sexual assaults happening late at night, or when you wear certain clothes. “But the fact this happened at 4 o’clock, it was light outside and I had a t-shirt and trousers [on], it made me feel really confused.”

“For weeks I didn’t really have much motivation.

“I was really worried, what’s to stop something like it from happening again and being worse?” she continued.

“The clothes I would wear, they were normal when I was fine. I just threw them away.

“I wanted to look good for myself, I felt that if I look good then I felt good. But it made me question, well if I look good to myself, then I look good to people, and I don’t want people looking at me in that way.

“I don’t know why he chose to do that to me, if there was something about me. It was not knowing that played on my mind a lot.”

Defending, Ravi Dogra told the court that his client is originally from Darfur in Sudan, and came to the UK via a “well-rehearsed route through Europe some six years ago”.

He has leave to remain and work until 2024.

“You will understand that the reason he chose to leave, more so his parents chose he should leave, is he is of the age they are either forcibly recruited into militias or killed,” Mr Dogra said.

“It is unfortunate that a young man that has come to the country to seek shelter then finds himself committing this very serious offence.”

Bashar, now of Beighton Road in Sheffield, had previously pleaded guilty to assault by beating and two counts of sexual assault, and expressed remorse and apologised to the victim, the court was told.

Mr Dogra said that there is a “sufficient prospect of rehabilitation”.

Judge Townsend labelled the offence a “very serious sexual attack on a young woman going about her day-to-day life in the street”.

Bashar was given an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for 2 years. He must complete a four-month alcohol abstinence requirement, as well as 60 rehabilitation day.

A 10-year sexual harm prevention order was made, and he will have to sign the sex offenders’ register for a decade.