Muhammad Ali, pictured in 2023, was ultimately found guilty of indecently assaulting two boys. Photo: Albert McKnight.
CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to child abuse.
The mother of a young boy who was only four years old when he was indecently assaulted by his daycare worker says the child abuser “tainted our lives forever”.
Earlier this year, the jury in Muhammad Ali’s ACT Supreme Court trial delivered a majority guilty verdict on a charge of committing an act of indecency on a child.
During his sentencing hearing on Wednesday (22 October), the boy’s mother told the court she and his father trusted that staff and educators would keep their son safe when they left him at the daycare centre.
The last thing they expected was that he would be sexually assaulted there, she said.
The mother outlined the impacts the offence had on her son, including on his mood and behaviours.
“The hardest part has been the loss of his innocence,” the boy’s father told the court.
“My son lives under a shadow he should never have had to bear.”
The father said the boy now asks questions he shouldn’t have to.
“He asks if it was something he did,” he said.
“These questions break my heart.
“The impact of this man’s actions are permanent. A trust that should never have been broken was destroyed.”
During the short time Ali was employed as a casual educator at a childcare centre in northern Canberra in 2022, he was alleged to have indecently touched four young children.
At the end of his first trial in 2023, a jury found him guilty of indecently assaulting the first four-year-old boy but acquitted him of assaulting a second four-year-old boy and could not reach a unanimous verdict when it came to a three-year-old girl.
He faced a second trial this year, in which the then-31-year-old was found guilty of indecently touching the third boy’s genitals. However, the jury still could not reach a majority verdict in relation to the girl.
This means he was found to have indecently assaulted two four-year-old boys, and his second sentencing hearing, relating to the third boy, was held on Wednesday.
“Now he has to be sentenced on the basis that neither of these offences … was an isolated incident,” Acting Justice Peter Berman said.
He said he didn’t think Ali could expect to receive the same sentence he was given over the first boy.
But Ali’s barrister, Sarah Baker-Goldsmith, argued the judge could find her client touched the two boys during the same incident, as both boys said they had been touched when the other was present.
Prosecutor Marcus Dyason disagreed, saying the boys had described being touched in different parts of the daycare centre.
He argued that the second sentence should be more severe than the first because, as the offences were different events, they were not isolated.
Ms Baker-Goldsmith also said Ali would be deported to Pakistan once he is released from custody, so she asked for him to be handed a fixed-term of imprisonment to facilitate this faster.
She said he had lost his visa and had failed the character test due to his convictions, so he was no longer in the country lawfully.
Acting Justice Berman will hand down his sentence on Thursday (23 October).
Ali was suspended from the childcare centre in April 2022 after allegations began to emerge against him.
He has remained in custody since he was sentenced to 18 months’ jail over the assault on the first boy in November 2023, even though this first jail sentence has now finished.
If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.
Pete McMahon you should take that up with Kate Carnell, since she was the chief minister at that… View