Diwan Asgar Nabi, the masseur with the Indian contingent during recent Commonwealth Games, was on Thurday found guilty of indecently assaulting a teenaged girl volunteer at the games village and imposed a suspended one-month prison sentence.
Magistrate Charles Rozenscwaja awarded the suspended one-month prison sentence, wholly for 12 months, after he found Nabi guilty of two indecent assault charges of kissing and grabbing while the remaining charge of unlawful assault was withdrawn.
The sentence means that Nabi will not serve the term in jail this time but, if found guilty next time, would be automatically liable to the punishment.
The ruling does not prevent Nabi, who has been put on the sex offenders' register in Australia, from leaving the country, implying he could return to India.
The Indian masseur pleaded not guilty to the charges but the 16-year-old school girl told the Court that Diwan kissed her and grabbed her left breast while she was collecting towels from his room in the Games Village on the morning of March 13.
The girl, working for a company sub-contracted by Cleanevent to do some of the cleaning at the Games Village, had said it was her first day of work as a volunteer.
{{/usCountry}}The girl, working for a company sub-contracted by Cleanevent to do some of the cleaning at the Games Village, had said it was her first day of work as a volunteer.
{{/usCountry}}The incident happened when the girl was momentarily left alone in the man's room as the girl's work partner, a school vice-principal in his 40s, stepped outside to collect a towel.