Abdoela Berhan punched Cleo Lake outside a nightclub in Bournemouth (Image: Getty)
An asylum seeker knocked a young woman unconscious with a single punch after she and her friends rejected his advances. Abdoela Berhan, 35, punched Cleo Lake in the face, knocking her out cold before fleeing.
Miss Lake, now 21, described CCTV footage of the assault as “hard to watch” and her mum gasped loudly in Southampton Magistrates’ Court as she saw the moment her daughter was assaulted.
In December 2024, the Eritrean national sat next to Miss Lake and her two friends outside Cameo nightclub in Bournemouth, Dorset, and tried to put his arm around one of them.
Miss Lake said: “He tried to sit down with us. I got uncomfortable because none of us knew who he was, it was dark and there was no one else around.
“I told him to f*** off and he didn’t like it. We were arguing, swearing at each other, and he got rather close, so I shoved him back. He turned around and kicked me, but missed, then I kicked him.”
Abdoela Berhan was sentenced to six months in prison (Image: Getty)
That is when the man pulled his left arm back and swung a fist at her face, GB News reported. In CCTV footage, Miss Lake can be seen falling to the ground and then not moving as Berhan runs off.
Her friends were slightly away from her when it happened. At first, they thought she was asleep, but then realised something was wrong. Miss Lake was taken to hospital by ambulance but went home after waiting four hours to be seen.
When she later went to the GP about fixing her crooked nose, they said it had definitely been broken in the assault. She told the court of the effect the assault had on her.
She said: “After I didn’t go out for a while. I got quite a bit of bad anxiety around men, I just felt really uncomfortable around them.
“Even now, a year and a half later, I won’t go out clubbing unless there’s a lot of us or someone’s boyfriend is there, for protection. Because I have the thought that something bad will kick off.”
When he was later arrested, Berhan claimed he acted in self-defence. He said: “There were three girls, I approached them and asked them to give me a lighter.
“The one who was standing said ‘f*** off’ and tried to intimidate me. I was defending myself by my elbows. It was not my intention to attack her.”
District Judge Orla Austin handed Berham the maximum sentence possible for assault, six months in prison. She said: “You made advances to Miss Lake, which were rejected. She was entitled to reject your advances. She was a young woman.
“I’m satisfied a high level of violence was used against her. Though you say you were in some way defending yourself, the footage clearly shows otherwise. You denied all offences and put Miss Lake through a trial.
“In my judgment, this is an exceptional case. There was very serious violence against a young woman who had simply rejected your advances.”