Food delivery driver pleads guilty to sexually assaulting customers

A food delivery driver is due to be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a student who ordered a takeaway in Dublin.

Arslan Cheema (29), of Brookview Avenue, Artane, Dublin 5, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault carried out in a car outside student accommodation in the city center on April 4, 2021.

At a hearing on Thursday, Dublin Criminal Court heard that the injured party was 19 at the time and had been on a first-name basis with Cheema, from whom she regularly ordered takeaways.

In a victim impact statement she read to the court, the student addressed Cheema, saying he had destroyed her self-image and self-confidence.

“You hurt me so much; “No one can even imagine what you did to me,” the young woman said.

She said she was devastated after the attack and scrubbed her hands so hard that they bled.

“I was so disgusted with myself. I had a breakdown. I ended up in the hospital,” the woman said, adding that she was given antidepressants and antipsychotics, which made her gain weight and feel like a zombie.

Detective Garda Conor Mackey told Lisa Dempsey BL, prosecuting, that the woman told gardaí that she had been collecting food at the front gate of the student complex where she was living at the time.

She said it was dark that night and the weather wasn’t great, so she sat in the passenger seat of the parked vehicle.

The woman told gardaí that Cheema put her hand on his penis and tried to kiss her.

She said she felt very uncomfortable and was “frozen and shaken”, estimating it lasted about 10 seconds.

The woman asked Cheema: “What’s wrong with you?” and he said he hadn’t had sex and his partner was pregnant.

Video surveillance

She said there was a suggestion from him that they get in the back of the car and he grabbed her face and tried to kiss her. She told him to get out, exited the car and slammed the door.

CCTV footage was captured which showed the teenager getting out of the car in anger and slamming the door.

The student went back to her flat and notified her friend and then gardaí.

Her roommate described her as sobbing, upset and in a state of shock.

The roommate called the restaurant where Cheema worked and was eventually connected. He said he was really sorry and didn’t want to hurt her.

Snapchat message

Cheema, whom the victim called by his Snapchat name “Charlie,” then sent her a message on Snapchat saying he was embarrassed and sorry.

She responded by telling him to leave her alone and then she received a missed call and blocked his number.

The student told gardaí that although she had previously spoken to him in a friendly manner, she did not want to touch or kiss him.

Cheema was arrested and gave gardaí a different account: they were friendly and he felt they could talk about “sexual things”.

He said he was sorry if he had hurt her, but he didn’t think he had done anything she wasn’t happy with and that she had smiled and joked.

He has no criminal record.

Gda Mackey agreed with Michael D Hourigan SC, defending that Cheema was “downplaying” the matter, but pointed out that there is often a “delayed acknowledgment” by an offender and that he had pleaded guilty.

The court heard Cheema now works as a Bus Éireann Expressway driver and has a young child.

He regularly sends money to his mother in Pakistan, the lawyer said.

The mother of Cheema’s child submitted a reference to the court in which she spoke of his good qualities, including being a good father.

Judge Orla Crowe adjourned the matter to November 4 to hear the balance of mitigation measures drawn up by the defense and impose sentence.

If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour rape crisis hotline on 1800-77 8888, access the text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or Rape visit crisis help.