A man who sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl after showing her pornography has been jailed for 18 months.

The court heard that Faizan Ahmed (26) messaged the girl via the Viber messaging service asking her “do you know what sex is?” and “did you ever watch a sexy movie?”. He then requested that she sit beside him so he could show her one on his phone.

“I'll play a movie on my phone. I will show you some other day how it feel (sic),” he messaged. The victim had been playing with another child in a house where Ahmed was present.

The girl later told gardaí that Ahmed tried to kiss her but she didn't like it. She said she didn't want to look at the movie but he put it up to her face.

She said he put his hands down her “private parts” and rubbed her. She said she didn't like it and she was trying to get him to stop. The girl reported the abuse to her mother the following day.

Garda Dave Barry told Dara Hayes BL, prosecuting, that Ahmed later told gardaí in interview that he was concerned that the victim “knew too much” and was an inappropriate friend for the other child.

He claimed that he had asked her various questions over Viber to find out what she knew about sex. Ahmed admitted to gardaí that he may have touched the girl's vagina “accidentally when I was tickling her tummy”.

Ahmed (26) of The Park, Broomcourt, Charleville, Cork, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting the girl in Limerick on October 5, 2014. He has no previous convictions.

Judge Karen O'Connor said they were “inappropriate and disturbing messages from an adult to a child”. She accepted that the assault had “a profound impact on the victim” and that the crime represented a breach of trust.

The judge said it was a credit to the child's mother and the close relationship that they shared that she made her complaint the day after Ahmed abused her.

The child's mother read her victim impact report in court. She said Ahmed “robbed my daughter of her innocence and her life with never be the same again”.

“He has robbed her of her confidence, her trust in people and her childhood innocence. It affects her home life, school life and social life,” the woman said before she outlined how the girl used to love to dance and play soccer and hurling but she has since stopped doing all these activities.

“After being sexual assaulted she became too afraid to leave the house. My once confident, out-going little girl has become so anxious and scared,” the woman continued.

She said night-time had since become a huge ordeal because her daughter was petrified, and refused to sleep in her own bed. She also had stopped going on overnight visits to her grandparents.

“My lovely daughter lost all her confidence. She still rarely leaves the house, goes nowhere with her friends and now lives a very isolated life. She is in constant fear that something will happen again,” the woman continued.

Gda Barry agreed with Brian McInerney BL, defending, that Ahmed married an Irish woman having moved here from Pakistan in 2013. He accepted that he has never come to garda attention.

Counsel said his client wished to offer his apologies to the victim and her mother. He submitted that it was “an isolated but appalling incident in an otherwise unblemished life”.