Amy Dale Chief Court Reporter
The Daily Telegraph
February 13,2014
AN asylum seeker who “traumatised” seven teenage girls by indecently groping them in the Sydney Olympic Park pool had only been in Australia for six months, a court has heard.
Mohammed Salem Nazari pleaded guilty at Burwood Local Court yesterday to two charges of indecent assault on two 18-year-old girls and five offences of indecently assaulting a person under the age of 16 at the pool.
The 33-year-old, who doesn’t speak English, assaulted the girls — the youngest aged 14 — in the Rapid River Ride whirlpool within 25 minutes on December 8.
The asylum seeker had recently arrived in Australia from Afghanistan and was on a bridging visa.
His lawyer told Burwood Local Court last year that Nazari was “a poor or non-swimmer” and only came into contact with the girls due to the current in the pool.
After initially pleading not guilty to the charges during an unsuccessful bail application late last year, Nazari reversed that yesterday and admitted all of the accusations.
Nazari required a Dari interpreter during all of his court appearances.
Police documents tendered to the court alleged he grabbed all of the girls around their waist, touching their thighs, bottoms and breast.
The girls reported the groping to pool security and they watched his movements on CCTV footage until the police arrived.
Nazari, who had been living in a unit in Parramatta at the time, was arrested and taken to Auburn police station.
Court documents said Nazari had been “nonchalant” about the accusations and insisted all of the contact with the girls had been accidental.
The charges of indecent assault and indecently assaulting people under 16 carry maximum jail terms of five and 10 years respectively.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison’s office confirmed in December that Nazari’s visa had been cancelled and court papers said he was the “subject of an immigration hold”.
It came after a Coalition crackdown on asylum seekers and bridging visa holders in trouble with the law.
Under the previous government some asylum seekers remained in the community while facing charges with revocations considered on a case-by-case basis.
Nazari, who is from the Hazara ethnic group in Afghanistan, was the 31st asylum seeker facing criminal charges to have his bridging visa cancelled under the new rules.
He will be sentenced on March 3. It is expected he will be deported on the completion of his sentence.
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