Reporter competition twenty-five entrant

Abdur Rashid: his 14-month term was ruled unduly lenient and tripled

The Bangladesh-born religious teacher sexually assaulted a six-year-old pupil during instruction in a Dublin mosque. He denied the offence and expressed no remorse; the Court of Appeal quashed the first sentence and imposed four and a half years.

Published 28 July 2026 · Remigration Ireland case ledger

6 years oldVictim's age

1 convictionSexual assault

4½ yearsFinal appeal sentence

2 yearsPost-release supervision

Abdur Rashid occupied a position of authority over children receiving religious instruction. A jury found that he used that access to sexually assault a six-year-old girl. The first sentence allowed him to leave prison four days after it was imposed because of time served and remission; prosecutors successfully challenged it.

An abuse of trust

The girl attended Rashid's class in a Dublin mosque. The Court of Appeal record states that he kissed her in an adult manner, put his hands beneath her clothing and touched her genital area. Her mother noticed something was wrong when collecting her and immediately confronted him.

The child developed anxiety, suffered stomach pain and nightmares, became afraid to attend school and worried that Rashid would take her away. She was required to give evidence and undergo cross-examination at trial because Rashid denied the charge.

Conviction and the first sentence

A Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury convicted Rashid of one count of sexual assault. In November 2018 the trial court imposed 18 months with the final four months suspended, backdated to January. With remission and time already served, contemporary reporting said he walked free four days later.

The sentencing court was told that Rashid had no previous convictions. It considered conflicting mental-health material; the later appellate judgment recorded that a Central Mental Hospital psychiatrist believed he was malingering and did not have a psychiatric illness at that time.

Prosecutors proved the term was unduly lenient

The Director of Public Prosecutions sought review. On 8 May 2019, the Court of Appeal held that the original two-year headline assessment did not reflect the offence's considerable gravity, the child's age or the abuse of authority.

The appellate court quashed the order, selected a five-and-a-half-year starting point and reduced it by one year for modest mitigation. It imposed four and a half years with nothing suspended, followed by two years of post-release supervision.

Case chronology

2001: Rashid is reported to have begun living in Ireland.
December 2015: He sexually assaults the six-year-old during mosque instruction.
January 2018: A jury convicts him of one count of sexual assault.
19 November 2018: The Circuit Court imposes 18 months with four suspended.
Four days later: He is released based on time served and remission, according to contemporary reporting.
8 May 2019: The Court of Appeal quashes the lenient sentence and imposes four and a half years.

A transparent cost illustration

The Irish Prison Service reported a 2024 average of €99,072 per available staffed prison space, excluding capital expenditure. Applying that benchmark to the final four-and-a-half-year term produces a conditional illustration of €445,824.

This is not an invoice. It does not subtract earlier time served and applies a later system average to a historic sentence; actual custody, remission, historic rates and marginal spending differ. It excludes Garda, prosecution, court, legal-aid, supervision, counselling and victim-support costs.

Nationality and status distinction

Court reporting described Rashid as a Bangladeshi national or Bangladesh national. When interviewed after the original release, he said he had received permission to stay in 2001, held an Irish passport and was an Irish citizen. This file therefore describes him as Bangladesh-born and makes no claim that he was an illegal immigrant, asylum seeker or deportable non-citizen.