Jamil Chowdhury: Man accused of sexual assault, grooming teen girl

A man allegedly sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl in her own home after grooming her for sex on Instagram.

A Bangladeshi national is accused of grooming a girl for sex on Instagram before sexually assaulting her in her own home, despite the girl’s mother warning him to stay away, a court has heard.

Jamil Ahmed Chowdhury, 21, was charged on Monday over the alleged sexual assault and grooming of the 14-year-old girl in Sydney’s south west.

The court heard Chowdhury allegedly met the girl online last year, with the pair exchanging an “extraordinarily high” number of direct messages on Instagram.

The man planned to meet the girl at her home in Villawood where he allegedly began kissing her before placing his hand in her underwear before digitally penetrating her.

Police allege Chowdhury then performed oral sex on the girl.

After the alleged encounter, it is alleged the pair continued to chat online and discussed the sex acts which took place over explicit messages.

Police allege the girl’s mother uncovered the messages and informed Chowdhury that her daughter was underage and requested he cease talking to her.

The court heard the girl created a new Instagram account to chat to the man, where they continued their conversations and allegedly “professed their love for each other”.

“The defendant is said to have repeatedly requested to meet the complainant, despite being advised by the complainant’s mother she was underage and was committing an offence by trying to procure her,” Magistrate Tsaviridis said.

Chowdhury allegedly visited the girl’s home again on Monday, where police were waiting to arrest him.

In a police interview, he denied the allegations and claimed the teenage girl had signed into his account to send the explicit messages before signing back into her own account to reply.

Magistrate Tsaviridis said he was doubtful this was the case.

In applying for bail at Fairfield Local Court on Tuesday, Chowdhury’s defence lawyer said he had arrived in Australia on a student visa in 2019 and was studying IT while working part-time at Woolworths.

He is yet to enter pleas to charges of having sexual intercourse with a child aged 14, and groom child for unlawful sexual activity.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment if convicted.