Man found guilty of committing sex act in front of girls

Jurors took less than two hours to return unanimous verdicts against Ahmed Elbasry.

The defendant, 38, denied three counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and went on trial at Bournemouth Crown Court.

Following the three-day trial, the jury of seven women and five men found Elbasry guilty of all counts on Thursday, August 17.

The offences related to an incident at the seafront toilets in Undercliff Drive near Boscombe Pier on the evening of May 8 last year.

Prosecutor Tom Wright told the jury the girls, who were aged between 11 and 13, had been at the beach with family when they went to the toilets before making the trip home.

He said they were the only people in the women’s bathroom when they saw the defendant in the corridor.

In evidence, they said he was looking at them and smiling. The complainants said he exposed himself with his “boxers” halfway down his thighs.

During the trial, the defence said they were green swimming trunks and he also had chino shorts.

The girls described how Elbasry was touching himself and how scared they felt.

The court heard that the complainants locked themselves in two of the cubicles before the defendant, who lived less than two minutes away, entered the only other one.

One of the 13-year-olds said Elbasry tried to put his head through the gap at the bottom of the partition wall, which separated the stalls, before he put his arm under and tried to grab at them.

By this point the girls were screaming until one of their parents, who they had called on the phone, arrived in the toilet block, the jury heard.

The trial took place at Bournemouth Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

The court heard the defendant went out of the cubicle he was in and went into the men’s toilets where he put his shorts on.

Prosecutor Tom Wright said the offender was challenged by the parents and he was prevented from leaving the scene until police arrived.

Elbasry’s account of what happened differed from his police interview and when he was in the witness box in the trial.

In his interview, he denied going into a cubicle in the women’s toilet and touching himself.

At court, he said he was desperate to go to the toilet and took his penis out before going into the stall.

His barrister, Nick Cotter, suggested to the jury he had committed an honest mistake going into the women’s toilets rather than the men’s facilities.

Judge William Mousley KC remanded the defendant, of Marina Close, Bournemouth, on unconditional bail ahead of a sentencing hearing at Bournemouth Crown Court on Monday, October 2.