A Pakistani-origin childcare worker who was already behind bars for indecently assaulting a four-year-old boy has been found guilty of sexually abusing a second boy at the same Canberra centre.
It is reported by ABC News that Muhammad Ali, 31-year-old, pleaded not guilty to two charges of committing an act of indecency on a four-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl at the centre in Belconnen.
An ACT Supreme Court jury found him guilty of the charge relating to the boy, but were unable to come to a majority verdict on the charge relating to the girl, ABC News reported.
It was earlier reported by the ABC that Ali, who finished high school in Pakistan before moving to Australia to do a Certificate IV in Project Management and obtaining a Diploma in Early Childhood Education, had a history of mental health issues.
Ali worked as a security guard before starting casual work in childcare in 2014, and admitted using illicit drugs (cocaine and oxycodone) to “cope with mental health and personal life circumstances relating to visa and his sexuality”, The Nightly reported.
The second trial heard that the four-year-old boy told police Ali had “squeezed” his penis, and that the girl said he had touched her genitals after her mother had noticed some swelling in the area when she was in the bath.
Ali’s case will return to court next week for a sentencing date to be arranged.
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