An asylum seeker who overstayed his leave to stay in the UK sexually assaulted two women as he delivered hot meals to their homes.

Shafiullah Rasooli was working illegally when he used his friend’s registration details to deliver groceries and take-aways to people in and around Maidstone.

However, when the 29-year-old delivered to two women in the County Town, he sexually assaulted them by touching their breasts and running his hand over their upper bodies.

The offences were committed on June 26 and July 3.

Rasooli, of St Peter’s Street, Maidstone, who is originally from Afghanistan, was later identified and charged with three counts of sexual assault, two of which are against the same victim, and was remanded in custody.

He denied the allegations and stood trial over the matters at Sevenoaks Magistrates’ Court on October 1, where he was found guilty of all charges.

Rasooli was remanded in custody and a pre-sentencing report was ordered to be completed on him before he learnt his fate.

But when he appeared at Margate Magistrates’ Court on October 21, the court heard the probation report had not been completed and couldn’t be done until at least December 3, and that he had now spent eleven-and-a-half weeks on remand.

Terry Knox, prosecuting, told the court that because Rasooli had denied the charges, both women had to give evidence of his wrongdoing at his trial.

He added: “He’s an immigration overstayer and now his application to stay [longer] has now been formally rejected.

“He came to [one victim’s] address and she recognised him from [delivering food] two weeks earlier.

“He then steps over the threshold of the door, so the assault happened in her own home. He had one foot in the door and one foot outside, and they had a conversation about her cat, and he said he could take the cat home.

“He then asked her her name and age and told her she looks young for her age, and then he gestures to the sofa and says to her, “No boyfriend or friends [at home]’.

“She lies and indicates to him yes, there was in the corridor, but there wasn’t at that point, and she was scared and unsettled as he gives her the bags [for delivery] and at that point he runs his hands down her body, down her breasts and [upper] body and was smiling as he did so.”

Mr Knox then told the court during the trial the woman cried as she gave evidence of the unwanted attack and then went on to tell magistrates the second sexual assault was carried out in a similar manner.

The prosecutor added: “He was at the [second] woman’s door and asked her her date of birth and said he was surprised at her age.

“He then steps over the threshold into her porch and lifted his arm over her shoulder and holds her right breast and does a tapping motion [on it].

“She froze, but didn’t want to show panic, and he said he was a Muslim and didn’t drink alcohol and had a bottle of wine in the vehicle from a previous delivery and would she like a free bottle.

“She said no, but he repeats [the offer] and so she says, ‘go on then’ to get him to leave.”

The court heard Rasooli then goes back to the vehicle [to get the wine] and she froze again when he holds her shoulder and breast for a second time.

Mr Knox added: “He then grabs her phone and enters his own contact details into it and says he hopes to see her soon and he called her two days later, twice, but she didn’t answer.”

The court also heard the woman had become paranoid after the incident and had installed CCTV and security lights at her property as a result and could no longer trust people coming to the door.

The terrified victim ha been unable to hold down her job as she couldn’t sleep as she was worried he would return.

She added: “This [my house] used to be my safe place, but he knows where my home is and what my phone number is.”

The court also heard that when he was arrested and interviewed over the matter, Rasooli claimed hugging to the side was a common method of saying goodbye in Afghanistan.

Mr Knox also told the court that because Rasooli’s immigration status was an overstayer, it was the reason he’d been remanded in custody in August.

But the prosecutor said at that stage he didn’t know what would happen if he was released, as he didn’t know if Rasooli would be detained by immigration authorities.

He added: “He’s been on remand as he had no [real] residence to go to.”

Manjit Tesse, defending Rasooli, said the bench could sentence him then without the report or wait until December 3, when it would be completed, but that it was ultimately up to them to decide.

Magistrates then said they wanted to send the case to Canterbury Crown Court so he could be sentenced there, and they remanded him in custody until then.

A date for that hearing is yet to be fixed.