MIDLANDS SEX OFFENDER TOLD SCHOOLBOY HE WAS HANDSOME AND PROMISED HIM FREE CHIPS
A convicted sex offender called a schoolboy 'handsome' and promised him free chips in exchange for his phone number.Shaho Mustafa pestered the 14-year-old boy as he was walking with friends past the takeaway where he worked.
Mustafa stepped out of the shop before asking the victim for his phone number and social media account details.
Harassment of the boy had been sexually motivated, a court heard.
Leicester Magistrates' Court heard how Mustafa worked at a shop in Harrison Road, Belgrave, Leicester.
Prosecutor Ravinder Darroch said: "On December 19 last year, the school made contact with the police to report that one of their pupils had, on more than one occasion, had an adult male block their path." The defendant was heard calling the complainant 'handsome'.
He was also seen staring at the complainant as they all walked past.
Mustafa said, "give me your number, I will give you chips inside - what's your name?
Do you have an Instagram or Snapchat account?" The child told his teachers, with the school then complaining to Leicestershire Police.
In a statement read in court, the boy described having to take a longer route to school to avoid the shop.
The boy added: "This has made me more wary of people." The court heard the defendant was previously jailed for 12 weeks in 2018 for a sexual assault.
Mustafa denied harassment without violence but was convicted of the charge following a trial at the magistrates' court.
Farida Khan, defending, said Mustafa had emotional and mental issues which made him 'unable to reflect critically about his behaviour'.
She said: "This has enabled him to act in a certain way with people in regard to impulse and urges." She also stated: "He has shown remorse and has engaged with probation." The court heard how Mustafa's brother was killed two years earlier, which has left the defendant 'traumatised' and with suicidal thoughts.
Ms Khan asked the judge to accept that Mustafa's mental health meant he had less culpability for the crime.
The judge said: "I disagree.
Have you read the report?" She responded: "He doesn't understand what he's doing." But the judge replied: "I can't agree." Sentencing Mustafa, the judge said: "The offence is one of harassment where it's said you harassed a young child.
I believe it was sexually motivated.
You were found guilty after a trial where three children had to give evidence." Mustafa, of Tudor Road, Leicester, was handed a 12-week sentence, suspended for 18 months.
He was also sentenced to a 35-day programme requirement, made subject to a restraining order, and ordered to pay £120 in compensation.
