A Nanaimo restaurant owner has been sentenced for having sex with a girl under the age of 16.
Talal El Bakkar pleaded guilty to a count of inviting a child to sexual touching.
El Bakkar met the girl in the spring of 2015. He started picking her up from parties where she had consumed too much alcohol.
On one of the pickups, Crown Counsel said “El Bakkar took the girl to his home where they had sex”.
Her age was not revealed because of a publication ban.
He was sentenced to a minimum 90 days in jail which he will serve on weekends.
He was also handed three years probation.
The court heard El Bakkar has no previous criminal record, and two friends testified he had given meals to many homeless who went by his restaurant.
His lawyer said El Bakkar suffered a personal injury in 2004 that led to a permanent cognitive disability.
El Bakkar owns Alladin’s Cafe in downtown Nanaimo.
Kendall Hanson
