A 70-year-old migrant sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl “while encouraging her to cover her head”, a court has heard.

Chaudhry Zaman kissed the girl and forcibly held her hand while she was walking home from school in Slough, Berkshire.

He told jurors he was encouraging the girl to cover her head and telling her how she could do so.

Zaman, who followed his sentencing hearing with the assistance of a Punjabi interpreter, was spared a jail sentence, in part because of his age.

Judge Amjad Nawaz, describing the incident, told Zaman on Monday: “CCTV shows you holding her hand. She says she did not want to, her hand was forcibly held.

“You were seen sitting on a bench with her and that is where she said that you kissed her on her lips,” the judge said.

“You claimed you were speaking to her and asking her, encouraging her, to cover her head and you were trying to tell her how she should cover her head.”

It was not explained why he was talking to the girl about covering her head.

Ian Wright, prosecuting, said: “The defendant asked the child to be friends with him, asked her if she loved him and told her to keep it a secret.”

Mr Wright said the victim was 12 years old at the time and the defendant, who had no previous convictions recorded against him, was aged 68.

The prosecutor said the judge had raised a question about Zaman’s immigration status after the trial. He informed the court that he was in the UK lawfully.

Victim ‘still feels anxious’

In a victim personal statement, the young girl said: “After this happened to me, I found it really overwhelming. I felt like throwing up because I felt so anxious about going to school again.

“I did not feel like I could talk to anyone about what had happened because I did not think they would understand.”

The girl told Reading Crown Court that she had lost some of her friendships in the weeks following the incident.

“I was picked up from school by my dad to make sure I was safe,” she added. “This changed my routine and my family’s routine a lot. I still feel anxious now about what happened and I wish it did not happen to me.”

Zaman had denied one offence of sexually assaulting a girl under 13 by touching but was convicted by a jury on Oct 24 last year.

Paul Douglass, defending, told Judge Nawaz that a pre-sentence report had recommended that Zaman receive a community order.

The lawyer said: “Your honour may think that is a just and proportionate sentence given the defendant’s age, his lack of previous convictions and the nature of the offence, albeit it was very alarming and distressing for the young girl involved.”

Mr Douglass said the defendant was described in the pre-sentence report as not accepting his guilt, but told the judge: “His response is that he is very sorry for what happened and it will never happen again.”

Judge Nawaz decided not to jail Zaman, agreeing with the author of the pre-sentence report that the defendant’s risk could be “managed in the community”.

He told Zaman: “The victim has lost her self-esteem, lost her confidence and lost her friends and that is all down to your actions, because she had to speak up about what had happened to her. That has caused a break-up of friendships, which she regrets.”

Zaman was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, with a requirement to do 80 hours of unpaid work in the community. He was also handed a restraining order for five years that prohibits him from going within 200 metres of the girl’s school and he was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.