Watford stall vendor found guilty of sexual assault

Fared Amire, 26, formerly of Queens Road, was convicted after a trial at St Albans Crown Court on March 17.

The court heard how Amire, who was 22 at the time in 2019, was working at a street food stall in Watford town centre when he met the victim, who also worked in the town.

After exchanging numbers with the victim, who was 24 at the time, they had a few friendly text messages.

On February 8 that year, the two met– with Amire falsely using the name ‘Peter’ – for a coffee on her lunch break.

After they finished, the stall worker asked if he could join the victim in looking around some shops and said he needed to collect something from his home first.

Fared Amire was a food stall vendor

The victim followed him into his room, where he began to pull her to the bed and sexually assault her.

She managed to push the man away and fled the room, before calling a work colleague asking them to meet.

Amire was later arrested on February 10 that year, but first stood trial in February 2022, which after four days resulted In a hung jury.

He was re-trialled this month and found guilty of one count of sexual assault, but not guilty of two additional sexual assault counts.

Detective Constable Marius Edghill commended the “bravery and resilience of the victim” for having to wait three years for the case to come tor trial.

Amire formerly lived at Queens Road.

DC Edghill said: “Amire lured her back to his room under false pretences, knowing full well what he was planning to do.

“The few text messages exchanged between the pair were not suggestive or sexual in any way, and at no point had the victim indicated to the defendant that she was romantically attracted to him.

“The victim trusted Amire and had no reason to expect anything untoward may happen. This is all on Amire – quite simply, he saw an opportunity to exploit the situation for his own sexual gain and he took it.”

He is scheduled to be sentenced at St Albans Crown Court on April 27.