A SYRIAN man has pleaded guilty to assaulting a 10-year-old boy by tying his legs to a bed with a skipping rope.

Fayd Hussein Al Shrayteh, who is 39, moved to North Ayrshire from Syria four months ago after his family were deemed to be ‘particularly vulnerable’ by the home office.

He is currently living in the hostel in Princes Street in Ardrossan and appeared in court on Thursday and was aided with by an Arabic interpreter.

The court heard that Al Shrayteh tied the boy to a bed by his hands with a skipping rope and by his feet using another rope after the 10-year-old had returned late from the supermarket.

He later removed the ropes before tying the boy up by his hands for another five minutes.

The second assault charge he admitted, after a plea deal was struck with the crown, was that he slapped the same 10-year-old in a garden after the boy was told to get in the house but he wanted to stay out with a school friend and play.

Al Shrayteh faced a third charge of behaving in a threatening manner towards the child. This charge occured on March 16 and he was with the boy who was said to be misbehaving and he threatened to hit him with what was described as an electronic cable, such as a phone cable.

The incidents came to light after the boy told staff at his school about the assaults and a member of staff contacted the social work department and the public protection unit at Kilmarnock Police Office.

Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard how a member of Al Shrayteh’s family said in interview that it was normal for that to happen in Syria and that the boy had no visible injuries following the incidents.

Brian Holliman, defending, said: “This is clearly a case for reports and there is significant background to it. I appreciate the cultural differences in this case but I think I will be reserving my comments for the reports.”

Sheriff Alistair Watson said: “I’m sure you understand, if you didn’t understand before, that this is unacceptable in Scotland. Before I decide on how to deal with your case, social work reports will be gathered.

“It’s a serious matter but it may be one we can find a constructive way of dealing with.

“I appreciate, without prejudicing what I am going to do, there may be cultural issues at play here.”

He added: “This is perhaps not a culturally unusual or extreme as it may seem and that I do regularly see worse cases involving Scottish persons.”

Al Shrayteh will be sentenced on June 14 of this year and ordered to stay away from a Three Towns address and is not allowed to contact the child.