Violent asylum seeker still at large despite knocking out woman with one punch

This is the shocking moment a violent asylum seeker knocks a young woman unconscious with a single punch after she and her friends rejected his advances. Abdoela Berhan punched Cleo Lake in the face, knocking her out cold before fleeing and leaving her helpless on the floor. The footage, which has now been released, shows the appalling violence Berhan, 35, showed towards the 20-year-old stranger. Miss Lake, now 21, described the footage as “hard to watch” and her mum gasped loudly in court as she saw the moment her daughter was assaulted.

Berhan, an Eritrean national, sat next to Miss Lake and her two friends at a nightclub in Bournemouth, Dorset, and tried to put his arm around one of them after they left. Miss Lake him to “f**k off” and pushed him away when he got into her personal space. Berhan aimed a kick at her and Miss Lake retaliated with a kick of her own and that is when the hotel migrant pulled his left arm back and swung a fist at her face. Miss Lake can be seen falling to the ground and then not moving as Berhan runs off.

When he was later arrested Berhan, whose address was given as the taxpayer-funded Britannia Hotel migrant hotel, claimed he acted in self-defence. He failed to turn up for court but was found guilty of the assault, just a week after he was convicted of attacking a Subway worker in another ugly incident.

He then faced a third trial for criminal damage to a police cell, which he was also found guilty in his absence. Despite there being three separate warrants out for his arrest Berham remains at large, with police saying only that “enquiries are ongoing”.

Miss Lake, who suffered a broken nose in the attack, said it’s ‘really frustrating’ he still hasn’t been caught. The waitress and bartender said: “It is really frustrating knowing he still hasn’t been picked up.

“I know how slow the police are with things, it doesn’t feel like they are trying very hard. I don’t know if he will end up getting what he deserves. And it’s quite scary knowing he’s probably still out there, maybe still in the area.”

Her mother said she thought he had disappeared and police will never find him.

The incident happened in the early hours of December 7, 2024. Miss Lake and her friends had been to the Cameo nightclub and 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.”

Berhan then delivered his “forceful” punch. Miss Lake thinks she was unconscious for about five minutes.

Her friends were slightly away from her when it happened. At first they thought she was asleep but then realised something was wrong. Miss Lake was taken to hospital by ambulance but went home after waiting four hours to be seen.

When she later went to the GP about fixing her crooked nose they said it had definitely been broken in the assault. She told the court of the effect the assault had on her.

She said: “After I didn’t go out for a while. I got quite a bit of bad anxiety around men, I just felt really uncomfortable around them. 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 told police after his arrest that he didn’t do it with any intention of assaulting her, it was a reaction to being pushed. He said he saw her stumble and he walked off.

Judge Orla Austin said she was satisfied Berhan was guilty of assault and made a warrant for his arrest.

She added: “Prison is very much in the forefront of my mind”