MUM'S NIGHTMARE: The mother of an 8-year-old girl who was indecently assaulted in Hamilton's Central Library has spoken out about safety concerns.

Library security may be beefed up after an 8-year-old girl was indecently assaulted at the central Hamilton library in September.

Alan Thomas, 37, was yesterday sentenced in the Hamilton District Court to nine months' prison for sexually assaulting the girl at the Garden Place library.

The Hamilton City Council is considering installing a security camera in the lift where the assault took place.

Thomas, a mental health patient, pleaded guilty after confessing to authorities that he couldn't stop thinking about touching young girls. He was previously known to police for drug, alcohol, theft and driving offences.

Thomas was under psychiatric treatment, according to evidence put before the court, and tried to admit himself to mental health facility Henry Bennett Centre at Waikato Hospital two weeks beforehand.

The girl's mother told the Waikato Times she was devastated at the brevity of the sentence for an offence which had deeply scarred her daughter and her family. She also despaired that Hamilton's central library had become such an unsavoury place.

That view was backed up by a council source, who described levels 1 and 2 of the library as being "like the wild west" because of an influx of "undesirables" from Garden Place.

The mother said she was upstairs at the library when her daughter wanted to go downstairs and get a book. "I said: OK, come back when you are finished.

"She took the lift down and a couple of minutes later ran back, shaking with a petrified look on her face, saying this man had touched her 'down there'."

The mother confronted the man, and drew the attention of security guards who held him until police arrived.

The incident has had a severe impact on the victim and her family. "X (girl's name) doesn't want to go back to the library," her mother said. "I have tried and every time she feels sick. I don't want her to be scared of going to libraries. She even froze at going in a lift at Chartwell. It's made my daughter fear going outside, scared that he is going to get her, and she wants the light on at night. It's affected me because I felt I couldn't protect my daughter in a public place. I feel guilty I let her go off by herself in a library.

"I really want people to know it is so important not to assume that your children are safe in places like this."

On the day of the attack, staff admitted the library had become a dangerous place, she said.

"Because of Garden Place, it attracts a lot of `different' people.

"The library has nice couches, fresh water, free internet – and that is why they now have to employ full-time security guards."

The mother was disappointed there were still no security cameras in the lifts.

"I appreciate they are doing their best to make people safe, but I don't think that is good enough.

"People have a right to know this has happened, and the threat to children's safety."

The mother described Thomas' sentence as pathetic. "It's not good enough. It's meant to be a serious crime. They are saying in court about how children deserve to be safe in the community. Nine months is nothing ... I thought eight years."

Council spokesperson Monica Holt said the library was a public place which everyone was entitled to use. Both police and CitySafe staff were always nearby if any incident occurred.

However, she said, in light of the attack the council would consider installing a camera inside the lift.