A MAN accused of sexually assaulting a ten-year-old boy had been drinking on the day he approached the child, a court heard.

Mohammed Fazal, from Chairborough Road, High Wycombe, told police he had had a couple of cans of Special Brew, but was not drunk.

Fazal, 57, is charged with sexually assaulting the boy by touching him over his clothes while he played in the street with friends on April 2 last year.

The boy, who is now 11 and cannot be named for legal reasons, told Reading Crown Court Fazal had touched him in the street near his High Wycombe home.

One of the children playing in the road went inside her house to tell her mum there was a man outside who was looking at her and scaring her. The mum's male friend went to investigate and found Fazal on the driveway.

"I asked him what he was doing here because I'd never seen him before," he said, "He did smell of alcohol, he was sweating a bit."

The witness went on to say the children seemed "very frightened" when he went into the street, and asked Fazal to leave as he was scaring them. Fazal said he had been visiting a relative.

Minutes later the boy's mother drove into the road after being called by her son and began shouting at Fazal, before calling the police.

The mum said: "I saw a lot of children outside. I asked him what had happened and he said a guy had touched his private parts and held his arm, and I said which man had done it and he pointed. I was really, really angry and upset."

Sergeant Mark Scully picked Fazal up outside a garage and arrested him on suspicion of assaulting a child.

He told the court Fazal had continually talked during the car journey to High Wycombe police station, but he could not fully understand him due to "intoxication" and because of his deep accent.

Sergeant Scully said: "There were a number of things that did stand out. Two statements of 'I never touched no one' and the second statement 'I just spoke nice to boy, very small boy'."

The boy and two of his friends, who were with him on the day of the alleged assault, gave evidence to the court via a video link.

Patrick Rappo, defending, told the court the boy suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and asked his 12-year-old friend how it affected him.

She said: "He goes like, really crazy and he runs around shouting and that."

Both friends claimed to have seen Fazal touch the boy but Mr Rappo suggested they had seen no such thing.

The girl later admitted only seeing Fazal moving his hand away from the boy, but the second witness, an 11-year-old boy, told the court he saw the alleged assault.

Fazal denies the charge of sexually assaulting the boy by touching. The trial continues.

6:12pm Thursday 27th March 2008

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