A resident of Falkirk’s controversial Cladhan asylum seeker hotel has been found guilty of two sexual assaults following a four-day trial.
It took just three hours for a jury to find Muhammad Sheikhi, 23, guilty of carrying out two attacks on women in the early hours of November 30, 2025.
The Cladhan Hotel resident – the centre of significant protests since August 2025 – attacked the first victim at a railway bridge on Kerse Lane, putting his hands under her clothing and forcing her close to him.
The court heard Sheikhi went on to assault a second woman on St Andrew’s Day with the intent to rape her at Kerse Lane and Bellmeadows skate park, removing her shoes and pinning her against a tree.
Both women were in their early twenties.
Sheikhi – who arrived in Britain by small boat– defended his actions by telling police he had tried to walk the girls home as an “act of kindness” and denied all charges against him.
Muhammad Sheikhi committed two sexual assaults
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Through an Arabic interpreter, a police interview recording showed him explaining he had “taken pity” on one of the victims sobbing at the side of the road.
He said: "She told me that she needs help to get home. She was crying, and she was wearing high heels and the straps were broken; they were snapped.”
However, the jury backed the victim’s retelling that saw Sheikhi remove her shoes and break the straps before trying to force his own shoes onto her feet as he walked in his socks.
Sheikhi’s lawyer, Paul Keenan, insisted his client denied any sexual advancement “of any type at any time occurred on the evening in question”.
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Muhammad Sheikhi was found guilty at Stirling Sheriff Court
| GOOGLESpeaking behind a screen to protect her anonymity on Wednesday, the woman describes leaving a night club at 2.30am and Sheikh shoving his phone into her face and saying just “Snapchat”.
She began the walk to her friend's house, requesting he leave her alone multiple times.
Later CCTV images showed her walking in his shoes and he in his socks before a video doorbell camera showed her begging him to return her shoes, and the jury heard how she had become hysterical by the time she arrived at her friend’s house.
Sheikhi showed no reaction as the verdict was read out by Sheriff Keith O’Mahony today.
Prosecutor Jamie Hilland pointed to similarities between the two crimes, being explained by Sheikh’s “predatory” actions.
In his closing statement, he said: “I suggest that the evidence demonstrates that in the early hours of November 30 last year, the accused behaved in a predatory manner towards these two women, and he sexually assaulted them.
“There are compelling similarities between the two crimes.
“These were so closely linked in time and circumstances as to form part of a single course of criminal conduct systematically pursued by the accused.”
Following evidence from the victims this week, the jury heard how Sheikhi approached both women, forcing his phone on them and trying to get them to add him to Snapchat, leaving both women “distressed”.
He added: “In both cases, he’s tried to corner the complainer, and he then sexually assaulted both of them.”
With no prior convictions in this country, Sheriff O’Mahoney requested a report into Sheikhi with a sentencing date set for June 29.
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