10 February 2026
Failed asylum seeker’s sex assault trial abandoned after no interpreter found
The trial of a failed Somalian asylum seeker for alleged sex offences has been abandoned after an interpreter could not be found.
A jury had been sworn in at Winchester Crown Court for the case of Abdinasir Elmi, 26, who has been accused of an alleged sex attack on a woman in Bournemouth, Dorset, on April 22 last year.
Mr Elmi was set to face trial on one count of sexual assault by penetration and a second charge of sexual assault by touching.
However, Judge Rufus Taylor told the jury that he had to discharge him before any evidence could be heard because a Somali interpreter could not be found.
The judge said that The Big Word, the firm responsible for supplying interpreters to the courts, was unable to source an interpreter because “one is ill and one is not answering his phone”.
“If you were facing trial in Mogadishu, you would want to have an interpreter. It would simply be completely unfair to embark on this case without him being able to understand 100 per cent of the case,” he told jurors.
The court was told that Mr Elmi was a “very promising” athlete and a “great hope for the future”.
A previous hearing was told that his application for asylum had been turned down by the Home Office and he was appealing against the decision.
The judge adjourned the case for a new trial to start on April 7, and remanded Mr Elmi in custody until then.
