27-Year-Old Somali Man Approached Teenage Twin Sisters on a Night Out, But After They Rejected Him, He Became Angry and Did Something Unexpected That Left the Teenagers in Shock

A 27-year-old man who attacked teenage twin sisters and another man with a broken bottle after the girls rejected his advances has been sentenced to four years and two months in prison.

Shando Alfa, originally from Somalia, attacked the three victims on Dame Street in Dublin city centre on April 4, 2026, after the sisters repeatedly told him to leave them alone.

The incident began when Alfa approached the twin sisters while they were walking together. He linked arms with one of the girls despite being told several times that they were not interested in him and wanted him to go away.

One of the sisters started recording the incident on her phone as Alfa continued following them.

A man passing by noticed what was happening and decided to step in to help the girls. However, the situation quickly turned violent when Alfa pulled out a broken bottle and attacked all three people.

The sisters and the man suffered serious cuts that required medical treatment, including stitches and staples.

During the court hearing at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Garda Colm Carroll presented CCTV footage, a recording from one of the sisters’ phones and audio of the attack.

The recordings showed that the girls had repeatedly told Alfa to leave them alone before the other man intervened.

The court heard that the man who stepped in had warned Alfa to back away and threatened to knock him out if he refused.

The man then pushed Alfa away, and the attack began shortly afterwards.

Although Alfa had not physically attacked the girls before the intervention, the sisters told police that his behaviour had become increasingly aggressive and made them uncomfortable.

Garda Carroll said the girls had made it very clear that they wanted Alfa to leave them alone.

Alfa’s lawyer, Oisin Clarke, argued that his client was heavily intoxicated at the time and had taken alcohol, crack cocaine and other street drugs.

He also suggested that language difficulties, cultural differences and intoxication might have affected Alfa’s understanding of the situation.

However, Garda Carroll disagreed that these factors made the girls’ wishes unclear, saying they had clearly told Alfa to leave them alone.

The court also heard that Alfa was homeless and struggling with drug addiction when the attack happened.

His lawyer explained that Alfa had experienced serious difficulties in his life, including being tortured in his home country of Somalia before leaving.

He had travelled through several European countries without stable accommodation and had previously received treatment at a psychiatric hospital in Germany after attempting suicide.

A psychological report presented to the court suggested that Alfa might be developing mental health problems, although he had not received a confirmed diagnosis.

His lawyer said it was unclear whether his mental health difficulties were caused or made worse by his use of alcohol and drugs.

The court was also told that Alfa had been living in a tent and had previously been attacked because of where he lived and where he came from.

Despite these circumstances, his lawyer admitted that Alfa’s actions were completely unacceptable.

He acknowledged that the sisters had made it clear they were not interested in Alfa and that his client had made them uncomfortable.

However, he argued that Alfa had not become physically violent until the other man pushed him away.

The lawyer accepted that the man was simply trying to protect the girls and that Alfa’s violent response went far beyond anything that could be considered self-defence.

Alfa pleaded guilty to three charges of assault causing harm.

The court heard that he already had 20 previous convictions, including offences involving weapons, handling stolen property and criminal damage.

Police identified and arrested him after reviewing CCTV footage of the attack. He was kept in custody following his arrest.

His lawyer also revealed that Alfa had received several threats while in prison because of the publicity surrounding the case.

As a result, he was being kept locked in his cell for 23 hours a day for his own safety.

The two teenage sisters submitted statements explaining how the attack had affected their lives.

Although the statements were not read aloud in court, Judge Elma Sheahan said they showed that the girls had suffered both physical and emotional harm.

The sisters were left with permanent scars and had experienced anxiety, sleeplessness, fear and difficulty trusting people since the attack.

The judge said the girls had simply been enjoying a night out and minding their own business when the frightening incident happened.

She explained that they were now dealing with emotional injuries that could affect them for a long time.

The court also heard that comments about the attack on social media had caused further distress to the sisters. However, prosecutors acknowledged that Alfa could not be held responsible for what other people had posted online.

During sentencing, Judge Sheahan described the attack as a serious escalation in Alfa’s criminal behaviour.

She said using a broken bottle against three people had caused significant physical and psychological harm.

The judge initially imposed a sentence of three years and nine months for each of the three assault charges.

She ordered two of the sentences to run one after the other, bringing the total to seven years and six months.

However, after considering Alfa’s personal circumstances, his difficult past, his expression of remorse and his early guilty pleas, she reduced the final sentence to four years and two months in prison.

The judge acknowledged the suffering Alfa had experienced in Somalia and his struggles with homelessness, addiction and mental health.

Nevertheless, she made it clear that the seriousness of the attack and the lasting harm caused to the victims had to be reflected in his punishment.

Alfa will now serve a prison sentence of four years and two months for the violent attack on the teenage sisters and the man who tried to protect them.