A SICK asylum seeker who knocked a woman unconscious after she rejected him has been jailed for just six months – as the victim’s mum slammed his sentence.
Abdoela Berhan sent 20-year-old Cleo Lake crashing to the ground with a single punch while on a night out.
The 35-year-old had ambushed Cleo and her friends as they left a nightclub in Bournemouth, Dorset.
She had told Eritrean national Berhan to “f**k off” and pushed him away when he got in her personal space.
The footage, which has been released by the CPS, showed the hotel migrant aiming a kick at the young woman, who retaliated.
Berhan then pulled his left arm back and punched Cleo in the face – knocking her unconscious before fleeing.
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When he was later arrested Berhan, whose address was given as the taxpayer-funded Britannia migrant hotel, claimed he acted in self-defence.
Cleo, who suffered a broken nose in the attack, described the harrowing footage as “hard to watch”.
Berhan failed to turn up for court but was found guilty of the assault in his absence – just one week after he was also convicted of a rampage in Subway.
He was also found guilty of criminal damage to a police cell following a trial.
Cleo’s mum Helen O’Brien has now slammed Berhan as a “disgusting human being” as he was jailed for just six months.
She said: “Six months doesn’t seem long enough.
“The impact of leaving Cleo in a crumpled bloody mess in that alley has lasted more than six months for us.
“I still cry when I think about that CCTV showing what he did to her and Cleo is still not the happy carefree girl she once was.
“The cheek of him to still deny it when it’s there in black and white just goes to show what a disgusting human being he is. He’s clearly not remorseful at all.
“I hope his time in prison teaches him a hard lesson. I just wish he would have got more time. He’ll probably be out earlier than six months.”
The attack took place in the early hours of December 7, 2024.
Cleo and her friends, who had been to the Cameo nightclub, were outside eating some food when Berhan approached them.
She told Poole Magistrates’ Court: “He tried to sit down with us, I got uncomfortable because none of us knew who he was, it was dark and there was no-one else around.
“I told him to f**k off and he didn’t like it.
“We were arguing, swearing at each other and he got rather close so I shoved him back. He turned around and kicked me, but missed, then I kicked him.”
Cleo also bravely told how she did not go out much after the attack and had become anxious and “uncomfortable” around men.
She added: “Even now, a year and a half later, I won’t go out clubbing unless there’s a lot of us or someone’s boyfriend is there, for protection. Because I have the thought that something bad will kick off.”
Berhan fled after the attack but was found guilty in his absence – with a warrant issued for his arrest.
Speaking through a Tigrinyan interpreter, Berhan told Southampton Magistrates’ Court that Cleo had tried to intimidate him.
He said: “There were three girls, I approached them and asked them to give me a lighter. The one who was standing said ‘f**k off’ and tried to intimidate me. I was defending myself by my elbows.
“It was not my intention to attack her.”
But District Judge Orla Austin said she didn’t believe him and handed him the maximum sentence possible for assault.
She said: “You made advances to Miss Lake, which were rejected. She was entitled to reject your advances. She was a young woman.
“Your reaction was to punch her with significant force to the face. That blow rendered her unconscious, left her bleeding in the street and required the ambulance to attend.
“I’m satisfied a high level of violence was used against her. Though you say you were in some way defending yourself, the footage clearly shows otherwise.
“You denied all offences and put Miss Lake through a trial.
“In my judgement this is an exceptional case. There was very serious violence against a young woman who had simply rejected your advances.”
It comes after the thug was previously convicted for spitting and kicking at a Subway worker in Bournemouth.
Berhan lashed out at Sahjan Chowdhury when he tried to make him leave for being aggressive.
He fled the shop in Bournemouth, Dorset – only to return later that day to pick up food orders for his Just Eat delivery job.
Poole Magistrates’ Court heard the attack took place at around 4.50am on November 30, 2024, close to his asylum hotel.
Asked whether Berhan will be deported after serving his sentence, a Home Office spokesperson said: “Where a foreign national poses a threat to the UK, we will always seek to deport them.”