It's believed they are furious at the alleged crime and he is now a target

An Iraqi asylum seeker accused of raping a schoolboy in a swimming pool because it was a 'sexual emergency' is being kept in solitary confinement for his own safety, prison officials say.

The attacker, identified only as 20-year-old Amir A, is kept under tight security in Vienna's Josefstadt jail in order to protect him from other prisoners.

A source told local media he was hated for what he was alleged to have done and he had now become a target.

The Iraqi man accused of raping a 10-year-old boy at the swimming pool (pictured) in Austria is being jailed apart from other prisoners who are angered at his alleged abuse of the child

Only weeks ago did the victim's mother say she was hoping that he would be jailed because she heard what happened inside to child sex offenders and wanted him to suffer as her son had done.

The single mother, named Dunja, said she regretted teaching her children to offer the same hospitality to new arrivals that she had herself received when she arrived in the 1990s from Serbia.

The 43-year-old said: 'My son cried himself to sleep every night after the attack and could not close his eyes without taking antidepressants. He tried not to let me see him crying, it broke my heart.

'I know that the physical wounds will heal, but the wounds to his soul may never heal. I don't want the man to be deported, I want him to be jailed because I have heard what they do to child sex attackers in jail.

'I want him to experience everything in jail that child sex attackers can experience from the other convicts. And then I want him deported.'

The boy, named locally as Goran, needed to be hospitalised following the attack.

This week local media raised several thousands of pounds to buy a holiday and a bed that he always wanted.

The Iraqi migrant who raped a 10-year-old boy in a swimming pool cubicle in the Theresienbad (pictured) pool in Vienna, allegedly told police that it was a 'sexual emergency' because he had not had sex in four months

The migrant arrived via the Balkans in September. Thousands of people cross into the country from Slovenia to get into Europe (file picture)

The man told police arresting him it was a 'sexual emergency' because he had not had sex in four months. His own wife and children, he said, were back in Iraq.

The migrant had entered the country through the Balkans on September 5, official records show, and said he could not help himself as he had an 'excess of sexual energy'.

Dunja said: 'I couldn't believe it when I heard that. I come from Serbia, and I spent five years living in a Caritas home together with people from many different nations.

'You certainly can't call me a racist, but to try and defend himself in that way is just monstrous.

'It's like me saying I'm going to go to a bank tomorrow and rob it because I don't have enough money for my five children.'