SA:SA judge urged to jail refugee

AAP General News (Australia)
12-17-2010
SA:SA judge urged to jail refugee

By Tim Dornin

ADELAIDE, Dec 17 AAP - A judge has been urged to jail a former refugee for indecent
assault despite his history of being tortured by the Taliban in Afghanistan and his treacherous
boat trip to Australia.

Sayed Mohammad Sidaqat, 34, has admitted indecently assaulting a 16-year-old girl on
an Adelaide train in July this year, just a month after his release from immigration detention.

He sat next to the teenager and held her hand on his erect penis and also kissed her
neck and fondled her breasts.

The teenager told police she was scared and powerless and had tried to get the attention
of other passengers on the train, but no one came to her aid.

In sentencing submissions in the South Australian District Court on Friday, defence
counsel Shane Spence outlined some of the man's history including how he paid people smugglers
in Iran for passage on a boat to Malaysia and then on to Australia.

He spent four months on Christmas Island before being released on humanitarian grounds
and travelling to Adelaide to live in June.

Ms Spence described Sidaqat's severe treatment at the hands of the Taliban in his native
Afghanistan where he was imprisoned at one stage.

She said in one incident he was stabbed with a bayonet.

"He was left on the side of the road to die," she said.

Ms Spence said Sidaqat now accepted what he had done was wrong and she said his "heart
stopped beating" when he was shown video footage on the incident on the train.

But she asked the judge to suspend any jail sentence to allow his rehabilitation and
English language lessons to continue.

In a victim impact statement the 16-year-old girl said she still had nightmares of
her attacker's "disgusting, grubby hands touching my body".

Prosecutor Susan Agnew urged Judge Simon Stretton to jail Sidaqat immediately for what
was a serious offence aggravated by the age of the victim.

She said the assault continued over a protracted period and the girl had made it clear
by her gestures that his advances were not welcome.

Judge Stretton will sentence Sidaqat on January 21.

AAP tjd/it/nb

KEYWORD: SIDAQAT

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