QUESTIONS have been raised over a sentence handed to a sex offender who pleasured himself in front of three girls.
The case involving 39-year-old Ahmed Elbasry has been referred to the Attorney General’s Office.
Elbasry was spared jail following an incident in the ladies’ toilet block near Boscombe Pier in May 2022.
He was “smiling and smirking” as he touched himself with his ‘swimming trunks’ halfway down his thighs in front of three girls, aged between 11 and 13.
The girls were so terrified that they locked themselves in cubicles and screamed for help.
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Elbasry then tried to put his head under one of the cubicles - occupied by two of the girls – before putting his arm under and trying to grab at them.
The defendant was confronted by one of his victim's mothers and stopped from leaving until the police arrived.
Elbasry, of Marina Close in Bournemouth, was charged with three counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
He was tried by a jury at Bournemouth Crown Court.
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.
The defendant was found guilty and was sentenced at the same court on January 4.
He was handed an 18-month jail sentence suspended for two years, and made subject to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.
On January 18, Attorney General’s Office (AGO) confirmed it had received a referral in relation to the case, and said it is currently under consideration.
AGO provides legal advice and support to the Attorney General and the Solicitor General (the Law Officers) who give legal advice to government.
The AGO helps the Law Officers perform other duties in the public interest, such as looking at sentences which may be too low.
Anyone is able to ask the AGO to review a crown court sentence, subject to it being an offence which the scheme covers.
The AGO must refer a case to the Court of Appeal within 28 days of the date of sentencing.
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