A man who allegedly grabbed a child and began walking away from a splash pad has pleaded guilty to assault.

The mother of a child involved says she witnessed a stranger grab her son and walk away from the play area in Victoria Park last summer.

On Jan. 23, Abdulrazak Nassary, 51, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault.

“He never should have approached my child, never should have picked my child up, never should have made me rip my child out of his arms,” she says.

The agreed statement of facts echoes what the mother says happened, but the Crown says there wasn’t enough evidence of intent to go ahead with the attempted abduction charge.

During the proceedings, court heard that Nassary once had a two-year-old daughter who had died years ago.

When he was asked if he wanted to say anything, he stood and apologized, saying that he had no bad intentions.

The man also pleaded guilty for threatening to kill a grocery store clerk in Cambridge and to indecently exposing his genital to a convenience store cashier in Waterloo.

He was sentenced to a total of 15 months in jail.

Because of time served, Nassary has five months left in his sentence.

He also has a three-year probation order to stay away from any public area that has children under 14.

With reporting from Nicole Lampa.