Immigrant jailed for sex act on bus with boy (15)
A Pakistani man who asked a 15-year-old boy to perform a sex act while they travelled on a city bus has been jailed for a year and ordered to leave Ireland within 24 hours of his release.
Jawad Khan (30), of Howth Road, Sutton, Dublin, appealed to the court for an order not to name him in the media because it would get back to his Muslim family in Pakistan and they would be thrown out of their village.
He said he also had a fiancee in Pakistan and told gardai that in his home country "sex with a woman is bad, sex with a man is death".
Khan, who was an assistant manager of Spar in Bayside Shopping Centre, Sutton, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to "defilement of a child" on August 10, 2006.
Judge Katherine Delahunt directed that he be registered as a sex offender and said she accepted that Khan regretted his actions and "exhibited genuine remorse".
She said she was taking into account the fact the teenager was considerably younger than Khan and that the boy had to undergo counselling.
Judge Delahunt suspended the last 12 months of the two-year sentence for five years on the condition that Khan leave the jurisdiction within 24 hours of his release from prison and not return to Ireland for 10 years.
She refused an application by defence barrister Pieter Le Vert to prevent the publication of Khan's name in media reports.
She said naming Khan would not identify the victim and she could not see "any reason to differentiate this case from any other".
Detective Garda Cyril Kelleher told prosecuting barrister Caroline Biggs that Khan sat beside the child on a Dublin Bus on the date in question and said: "Let's talk."
The two chatted before Khan instructed the boy to perform a sex act on him for several minutes. Khan gave him his phone number before getting off the bus.
The boy later reported the incident to gardai who, using Khan's phone number, were able to find out his identity and get a picture of him from the Immigration Bureau.
They matched the picture with the CCTV images from the bus and arrested him.
Khan initially refused to make any admissions and was released but several days later came back to gardai and said he "could not sleep or stay for one second in peace".
He pointed himself out on the CCTV footage but denied the encounter with the boy was premeditated.
When asked whether the boy's schoolbag did not indicate he was underage, he replied: "I did not think he looked too young.
"I'm not here to defend myself or say that I did not do sex. I want to apologise to that guy."
Worries
Mr Le Vert said Khan was worried about press coverage of the case because "there is a large Muslim community in Dublin and everybody knows each other".
He said his client's parents were financially dependent on him and their lives would be ruined if people found out what he had done.
He had handed in his notice to his job in Ireland because he felt it would be dishonourable to keep it.
Mr Le Vert added that Khan had some savings to return home and would not object if the court ordered him to leave the country.
- Miles Kennedy
