A Somalian asylum seeker who trained with Sir Mo Farah today denied sexually assaulting an 18-year-old girl and told jurors that she kissed him first.
Long distance runner Abdinasir Elmi, who is accused of molesting a young woman on a park bench, claimed he had been out walking the night before a big race when he was invited to join her.
The athlete told jurors his ambition was to emulate Farah and ‘win many medals’.
Elmi, who trained with the four-time British Olympic champion in Somalia, said the young woman kissed him so he kissed her back and that she was ‘happy’.
Prosecutors have alleged that ‘very impressive’ runner Elmi targeted the teenager when she was left alone by her friends.
The 26-year-old, who can run 5km in less than 15 minutes, is accused of sexually assaulting the young woman in a park in Bournemouth, Dorset, late at night.
He is accused of two counts of sexual assault against the 18-year-old at around 10:30pm in Bournemouth Gardens on April 22 last year.
Elmi has pleaded not guilty to the charges.Long distance runner Abdinasir Elmi
Long distance runner Abdinasir Elmi, 26, told jurors that he kissed the alleged victim after she kissed him first
Winchester Crown Court heard that Elmi was staying in the Roundhouse Hotel in Bournemouth at the time.
Giving evidence to the court with the help of a Somali interpreter, Elmi confirmed today that he is an asylum seeker from Somalia.
He said: “I came to this country in order to seek asylum, and I was put in (the Roundhouse hotel) by the government.
“It is difficult to have any normal life since 1991 (in Somalia) when the civil war broke out.”
It is not known when he entered the UK, but he has been training with Bournemouth Athletics Club since October 2024.
Tom Wright, defending, today said that Elmi was a ‘very impressive’ runner.
Elmi said that his ambition was to reach the top level in athletics, and he said that his fastest 5km time was sub-15 minutes.
He said: “My ambition in life has always been to become a great athlete like Mo Farah and win many medals.”
The prosecution allege that Elmi approached the girl after spotting her walking alone to a bus stop, then led her to the bench in Bournemouth Gardens where he repeatedly touched her without consent.
The court heard that the girl had been out in Bournemouth with her boyfriend and her friend.
Her partner had gone home and the plan was for her friend’s mother to give her a lift home. But her friend’s mother was unaware and turned up in a two-seater car and was unable to take both girls home.
Prosecutor Oliver Hirsch said: ‘It was when (her friend) left in the car and (the alleged victim) was on her own that he approached her.’
Elmi told jurors that he had left his hotel on that evening for a walk ‘in order to give my muscles some relaxation’ ahead of a 10km cross-country event the next day.
The athlete said that he was ‘walking aimlessly’ and he had no intention of talking to anyone while he was out.
He said he started watching the alleged victim’s group because it sounded like a fight was breaking out between them and another man.
The defendant told jurors the victim’s friend had said ‘hello’ to him as she was leaving with her mother, before the alleged victim told him to wait for her while she said goodbye to her friend.
He said the pair then walked towards a bus stop, before the 18-year-old told him she wanted to go to Bournemouth Gardens.
‘I agreed to walk with her’, he told jurors. ‘But I was staying away from her, not getting close to her.’
When the girl sat down on a bench, he said he joined her.
Elmi said he they were sat ‘very close’ together on the bench when the girl received a phone call from her boyfriend.
He said that after the phone call, the girl kissed him.
He said: ‘She put her arm around my neck and kissed me, and I kissed her back.
‘I put my arm around her stomach over her clothes. That is all that I did.’
He claimed the alleged victim then told him she was going to meet her boyfriend and left.
The teenager reported the alleged assault later that night at around midnight but was initially unable to identify her attacker because he was not known to her.
Elmi gave a no comment interview to the police when he was arrested in September last year.
Mr Hirsch previously told jurors that CCTV showed Elmi walking around ‘aimlessly’ and looking at other groups of young girls before the alleged attack.
He said: ‘Let me say that the prosecution says in all likeliness Mr Elmi set out that night to have sex with a young woman and did not much mind if she consented.’
According to a report from the Bournemouth Athletic Club from October, whilst he was in Somalia, Elmi spent some time training with some of the world’s top athletes, including Mo Farah and Bashir Abdi.
The trial continues.