A 30-year-old shopping center security guard has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after he kidnapped a 3-year-old girl and indecently assaulted her.
According to reports, Mohammad Hassan Al Bayati touched the child’s underwear and showed his penis to her during the 11 minutes they were in a stairwell.
NSW District Court Judge John Pickering said the 3-year-old had been ‘quite remarkable’ to report the incident and jailed the security guard for at least 2-and-a-half years.
The girl was distressed at the shopping center’s playground when Al Bayati took her to the fire exit stairwell, away from surveillance cameras.
11 minutes later, he walked her back to the playground where her 7-year-old sister was crying.
The mother, who already came back from shopping, was also waiting and was scolded by the security guard.
“The gall of the offender to lecture the mother about the dangers and risks of leaving her in the play area when he ended up being the greatest risk is one of the most curious parts in this matter,” said Judge Pickering.
“Any mother should be entitled to leave their children in a busy shopping centre and not have any belief or expectation that someone who is actually there to look after the interests of people shopping in the centre will then create harm in themselves.”
Police became involved after the 3-year-old girl said to her father that Al Bayati showed her his ‘needle’ and ‘tried to kiss my bum bum.’
Judge Pickering said the child showed ‘remarkable resilience through her courage’ to describe what happened to her parents.
“It’s quite remarkable because I think of how many three-year-olds would be able to articulate what happened to her,’ the judge said.
“[She] did her best to explain what happened but again it is an enormous task on a three-year-old to outline precisely what happened.”
Al Bayati will be eligible for release in 2021.
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Replaced!