Documents before the court state that he fondled the breasts of his victims, and took their hands and repeatedly kissed them, despite attempts by the women to break free. The first assault took place when he approached two teenage girls as they walked a dog in James Meehan Reserve on Monday afternoon. He told them he was visiting from Egypt for a week and asked to shake their hands. He refused to let go of one of the girl's hands then moved his hand onto her shoulder and "swept the back of his hands across both of the victim's breasts", police documents state. Two days later, he approached another 16-year-old on the concourse of Dee Why beach and grabbed her hand, kissing it several times while saying "I like you". The victim attempted to pull her hand away using "considerable force". An hour later, he approached a 57-year-old woman as she pushed her four-month-old grandson in a pram on the same concourse and asked to take a photo of the boy.

The grandmother said "no" and tried to move away but El-Kahly grabbed her hands and started kissing them saying "I love you, I love you". He then grabbed her left breast and squeezed it. Despite pleading guilty to the offences, El-Kahly told Fairfax Media that the assaults were the result of a cultural misunderstanding. Through a spokesman for Dee Why Masjid, Usamah Alamudi, El-Kahly said he denied the allegations and only "embraced kids". Mr Alamudi said: "As someone coming from Indonesian background, we also embrace kids 'excessively' and only once we are in Australia that we realise it can be considered as invasion of privacy or sexual abuse." Last week, El-Kahly's son, who lives in Sydney, told Fairfax Media the incidents were the result of a misunderstanding and his father, who does not speak English, was so embarrassed and distressed by his subsequent arrest that he had almost suffered a nervous breakdown.

He said the incidents arose when people on the beach asked to have their photos taken with his father, who was wearing exotic Egyptian Islamic dress. In North Sydney Court on Monday, El-Kahly nervously clutched some prayer beads and put his face in his hands as his solicitor, Rick Mitry, entered guilty pleas and asked a magistrate to sentence El-Kahly immediately so he could return to Egypt on Friday. Magistrate Michael Barbour denied the request, saying he would require a pre-sentencing report to determine the seriousness of the charges, which may take several days. "There's a number of issues that arise that need to be assessed for this particular matter," he said. Police also revealed that they were investigating a further two allegations and expected to lay charges as soon as Monday afternoon which would further hold up El-Kahly's bid to be sentenced swiftly.

Outside court, Mr Mitry said his client, who works as a university scholar and is a well-known prayer reciter or "qari" in Egypt, was highly distressed and needed to return to Egypt on Friday to avoid losing the cost of his air fare. El-Kahly is one of several qaris the Egyptian government sent to Australia for Ramadan, whom the Australian Foundation of Islamic Councils distributed to mosques around Sydney. El-Kahly will return to court on September 16 to be sentenced.