A MAN who groped an 11-year-old girl as she walked home from school was given a community order last week.

Nourredine Sed, 38, was sentenced at Dorchester Crown Court in relation to an incident in Wimborne Road, Winton on September 25 last year.

Prosecutor Heather Shimmen said the victim had told police Sed approached her on his bike.

According to her account to police, Sed had said: “I’ve seen you, I think you’re beautiful and I like you.”

The court was told that when the girl walked on Sed had asked for a kiss, to which she had replied “no”. But, the girl said, he then put his arm around her and tried to kiss her.

She said she tried to pull away but he was able to kiss her and touched her bottom.

Miss Shimmen said that following a police investigation and media appeal Sed, an Algerian legally residing in the UK due to his marriage to an EU national and UK citizen, was arrested and interviewed.

He initially denied the allegations but later made admissions in court.

James Newton-Price, mitigating, said that his client was supported by his wife, who had taken an “understanding, responsible and forgiving view in relation to his conduct”.

He added that Sed, of Stirling Road, Bournemouth, was a man of previous good character.

Judge Roger Jarvis told the defendant: “The very idea that a child of 11 years will be attracted to you is patently absurd.

“It matters not from whatever cultural background you arrive in this country, I’m quite sure that from wherever you come that observation of mine would hold true.

“This is a child on the brink of her adolescence and the sort of thing that you did to her causes her understandable concern.”

The judge added: “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Sed was sentenced to a community order with a supervision requirement for two years and a requirement to attend one to one sex offender treatment.

He was also made subject to a sexual offences prevention order banning him from Winton at certain times, and placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

THE victim’s mother said the 11-year-old had lost her independence as a result of the assault.

“She won’t get on the bus on her own any more, and I have to pick her up from the stop every day,” she said.

“It has really affected her, and she has lost all her self-confidence.”

She said she believed the sentence would not be an effective deterrent to other potential sex offenders.

“It is not the crime of the century,” she said.

“But it was disgusting, in broad daylight, the judge was right he should be ashamed of himself. And there was no remorse there.”