Wannabe barrister’s career hopes dashed following conviction for sexual attack on prostitute three months after being awarded LLB place
Another potential young legal star has squandered career prospects following a sex crime.
Straight-A student and wannabe barrister Ali Hafeez was convicted earlier this week of twice raping and robbing a prostitute in June last year.
Hafeez — who had pleaded not guilty and was studying for an LLB at London’s City University — is now awaiting sentence, with the judge reportedly indicating that a prison term is inevitable.
His conviction comes in the wake John Luke Dale’s recent failed appeal of a nine-month prison sentence for sexual assault, which involved slapping a woman fellow party guest in the face with his flaccid penis. Dale — a criminology undergraduate at Nottingham Trent University — had intended to qualify as a solicitor.
Hafeez — who describes himself as an “ambitious barrister to be” on his recently-deleted Instagram — committed the crime about three months after being awarded a place at City University’s law school.
Yesterday, the university confirmed to Legal Cheek that it has kicked Hafeez off the course.
A university spokeswoman said he applied for the September 2013 intake, with his application received before the UCAS cut-off point of mid-January of that year. The offer of a place was sent before the end of March 2013.
Once on the course, the apparently model student — who gained five As at A-level, including law, from Luton Sixth Form College — seemed destined to impress his tutors, participating in a high profile moot at the Supreme Court last March despite having been a green fresher (picture below).
Prior to that, Hafeez had been building impressive groundwork for a legal career. His LinkedIn profile shows he had already bagged experience marshalling at Luton Crown Court, as well as having shadowed a district judge at St Albans Crown Court.
In addition, Hafeez describes himself as the founder and chief executive of Motoring Law LLP, which was launched five months ago and appears to be an oddly-named car hire company.
But Hafeez’s academic and potential legal careers are now in tatters following the conviction. The jury found he had not only raped and robbed a prostitute of £20 and a mobile telephone, but after committing the crime he telephoned local police to report a fictitious shooting incident involving two gunmen.
Prosecutors maintained that Hafeez made the call in a bid to divert police away from the scene of his own crime. But his subterfuge was exposed by voice experts for the Crown, who gave evidence that Hafeez had made the bogus call.
On conviction, Hafeez was remanded to custody and will be sentenced on 18 November.
A spokeswoman for City University said:
“Following the court’s decision this week, the university has withdrawn Mr Hafeez from his studies.”
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Wannabe solicitor’s career hopes in tatters after slapping woman in face with penis [Legal Cheek]