Seif Waleed Al Hindawi pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a woman as she walked home in Churchtown. At sentencing, the court heard that the Jordanian man had arrived through Belfast and had been in the State for five days before the attack.
The attack
The woman was walking from the Luas to her home on Churchtown Road on 23 May 2024 when Al Hindawi followed her. The sentencing evidence says he pushed her to the ground, lay on top of her, pinned her arm and bit her face and mouth. She fought him off and reached her husband’s car. Al Hindawi returned and pulled at the passenger door before gardaí arrived and arrested him.
She later described PTSD, continuing medical treatment, difficulty sleeping and twelve weeks away from work. The court also heard that Al Hindawi refused infection testing after biting her, leaving her to undergo further tests and wait months for certainty.
The identity account changed
At the first bail hearing, Al Hindawi was described as a homeless Syrian asylum seeker. Garda evidence then said he had no passport and that the international-protection card he carried contained details he had supplied. Early reporting also recorded a story that he had arrived by sea in a container and had been in Ireland since March.
By sentencing, the court had heard a materially different account. The Irish Times reported that he initially pretended to have fled Syria but was in fact from Jordan, had travelled through Belfast and had been in the State for only five days. The two accounts should not be blended. The later sentencing evidence is the basis for recording Jordan as his reported country of origin.
From denial to guilty plea
When charged with assault causing harm in May 2024, Al Hindawi replied that he had not attacked the woman. Garda evidence at the bail hearing said he had no convictions, warrant history or other pending charges. Judge Monika Leech refused bail on flight-risk grounds.
At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 3 March 2025, he pleaded guilty to sexual assault. Judge Martin Nolan imposed a three-and-a-half-year prison term. The reviewed reporting does not establish a separate conviction on the original assault-causing-harm charge, so this file records one concluded prosecution rather than inventing a second conviction.
Timeline
- May 2024: Later sentencing evidence placed Al Hindawi’s arrival through Belfast five days before the offence.
- 23 May 2024: The sexual assault occurred on Churchtown Road. The earliest report described it as having happened on the preceding Wednesday night, creating a one-day reporting discrepancy that does not alter the conviction.
- 25 May 2024: Dublin District Court refused bail on the then charge of assault causing harm and remanded him in custody.
- 3 March 2025: Al Hindawi pleaded guilty to sexual assault at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court and was jailed for three and a half years.
- 23 September 2026: No later published appeal, deportation or removal outcome was located in a fresh name-variant search.
The immigration outcome is still unknown
Defence counsel said Al Hindawi had applied for asylum five days before the attack and suggested that part of the sentence could be suspended on condition that he leave Ireland. Judge Nolan said deportation after the sentence was probable but for the civil authorities to decide.
Those statements are not a deportation order and do not prove that he was later removed. The public reports reviewed for this file do not establish the outcome of his protection application, his current custody position or any executed deportation. Those remain open questions, not facts to be filled with assumptions.
Cost benchmark
The Irish Prison Service reported an average annual cost of €99,072 for an available staffed prison space in 2024. Applying that fixed archive benchmark to the full 42-month sentence gives €346,752.
This is a sentence-length comparison, not an audited bill for Al Hindawi and not verified time served. It excludes capital costs, Garda investigation, court staff, prosecution, criminal legal aid, interpretation, victim services and any immigration process.
Sources
- The Journal, 25 May 2024: initial charge, bail hearing, identity account and reported absence of prior convictions.
- BreakingNews.ie, 25 May 2024: contemporary account of the charge and bail proceedings.
- The Irish Times, 3 March 2025: guilty plea, sentence, victim impact and corrected Jordan/Belfast arrival account.
- Dublin People, 4 March 2025: sentencing account and the Saif spelling variant. This is the same Natasha Reid court report, not independent corroboration.
- Irish Prison Service Annual Report 2024: official staffed-prison-space benchmark.