Brave teen confronts sexual attacker in court with blistering speech

A 16-year-old girl has bravely confronted the man who lured her into a vacant construction site and sexually assaulted her while she cried.

A 16-year-old girl has bravely confronted a security guard after he was found guilty of luring her into a construction site and sexually assaulting her on the night of Mardi Gras last year.

The teen cried in court as she told Zekry Bishara, 62, that he had ruined her life when he led her into the empty building site and offered to pay her money to engage in sexual acts with him.

“Zekry Bishara, you hurt me in ways that are unimaginable,” she told her attacker.

“The pain I feel everyday haunts me. It follows me when I go to school, when I walk home at night, when I get on the bus.”

Zekry Bishara was found guilty of luring a teenage girl into a construction site and sexually assaulting her. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

The teen explained she had struggled with the decision to follow through with her complaint due to Bishara’s age and health conditions, but his repeated denials convinced her to continue.

“I was shattered you took one of the biggest, most heart-wrenching moments of my life and made it out like it was fantasy, a lie,” the victim said tearfully.

Court documents reveal the security guard told the girl he would take her “somewhere safe” after she became separated from her friends in Sydney’s CBD.

Just before midnight, the documents reveal he led her to a vacant construction site where she became concerned and texted her friends an urgent plea for help. They were unable to contact her.

The court was told Bishara offered her money to engage in sexual acts with him, which she refused.

He then exposed himself to her and put her hand on his penis, the court documents reveal.

The 16-year-old told him she was “a child” in order to dissuade him from any sexual activity, the court was told. It did not deter Bishara, who proceeded to sexually touch her while she cried.

Bishara’s 16-year-old victim told the court about the devastating impact of his attack on her life. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

In court, the girl told her attacker she had scrubbed herself raw trying to remove the memory of his touch on her body.

She told the court she wanted all men to know “what I wear is not an invitation. How intoxicated I am is not an invitation … No is not an invitation.”

The teen said the attack had devastated her entire family who cried and hugged her when the jury announced Bishara’s guilty verdicts earlier this year.

“That day you broke my family. Every day I go out, they worry,” the 16-year-old said.

“You took my security, you took my faith, and you took my trust in the world.”

The victim told the court that she was grateful Bishara had not raped or tortured her, but she was still left with “an eternity of suffering” following the attack.

“I hate you for what you did to me. I hate you for taking away my innocence and I hate how you made me feel,” she sobbed.

Bishara led the teen into an empty building site in the Sydney CBD. Picture: Toby Zerna

“Most of all, I hate that you have ruined me and I’ll never be the same person as I was.”

“May God never forgive you.”

The teen delivered her harrowing and powerful victim impact statement on Friday morning as Bishara awaited his fate.

He was found guilty of sexu­ally touching the girl without consent, carrying out a sexual act without consent, and detaining a person with the intention of obtaining advantage.

His lawyer Timothy Kent told the court that Bishara had no prior criminal offences and this criminal behaviour was “clearly an aberration”.

“It was clearly opportunistic,” Mr Kent said.

“The victim walked past the offender in the street and events unfolded from there.”

Crown prosecutor Cirino Triscari argued that Bishara’s actions were premeditated and his detention of the victim “was clearly facilitative of the sexual offences as opposed to merely incidental”.

Bishara and his family, who supported him in court, were eager to avoid media outside court.

“The accused had made the decision that he was going to keep her there in the construction site even though she was crying,” he said.

“He has made the decision, whether consensual or not, that he was going to engage her in some sexual activity at that point.”

The court was told that Bishara has been diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and “significant health issues”, which would make full-time custody more onerous.

Judge Justin Smith will hand down his decision on December 8.

He thanked the victim for her courage in giving the statement.