July 2023

Ross-shire couple spared prison sentence after admitting having indecent images of children on their phones

A couple who fled Syria seven years ago with their four children and settled in the Highlands have had restrictions placed on their internet use for the next nine months in a community payback order as an alternative to prison after both being caught with indecent videos of children being sexually abused

Ahma Al Mahamid, aged 50 and his 43-year-old wife Saosan Ghozlan appeared for sentence at Inverness Sheriff Court after previously pleading guilty to one charge each of having indecent images and videos of children on their mobile phones in Milnafua, Alness on December 16, 2021.

The court was told they were refugees who came to this country in 2016 and had been forced to move to new temporary accommodation in Wick before a permanent move to Glasgow soon as a result of the offences.

Fiscal depute Robert Weir told Sheriff Gary Aitken that police received intelligence that they may have committed the offence and sharing the material online.

Officers raided their home and seized their mobile phones, each of which had a video of child sexual abuse.

On his phone there were five videos, two category A – (the most extreme) – two ‘B’ and 1 ‘C’. There were two inaccessible videos – one Category A and one B. They had a runtime of 1 minute 17 seconds.

On her phone were two images each in category A and B, and two inaccessible Category C images. There were three category A videos