https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/25842623.asylum-seekers-sex-assault-trial-abandoned-due-interpreter/
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.
