Former high-school science teacher Mohamad Mohmoud Alnaghy, 58, of Dapto, had pleaded guilty to a single charge of procuring a child under 14 for unlawful sexual activity.

He had admitted trying to coax the 12-year-old into the shopping centre's toilets with the promise that he would buy him "anything" if the child touched his genitals.

Magistrate Darryl Pearce rejected a request from Alnaghy's lawyer, Aaron Kernaghan, to impose a suspended prison sentence instead of full-time jail.

Wollongong Local Court heard that the victim was at the shopping centre with friends on the morning of February 23 this year, when one of the boys initially approached Alnaghy and asked for $1.

Alnaghy said he didn't have the coin but would return when he got change.

A short time later Alnaghy spotted the victim near Foot Locker and approached him, telling him he had to touch him if he still wanted the cash.

The pair sat down on a lounge in the centre and Alnaghy began to touch the boy before suggesting they go to the Hoyts Cinema toilet so the boy could touch him.

The court heard that Alnaghy had unsuccessfully tried to coax the boy into the disabled toilet.

Alnaghy then took the boy into a store at the centre and told him he could have ‘‘anything’’ if he agreed to touch him.

Alnaghy again tried to lure the child into nearby toilets. 

But when that failed, he forced him into a fire exit.

There he asked the boy to give him his underwear, but the boy refused.

He eventually escaped from Alnaghy via the car park and alerted security guards to what had happened.

Facing court yesterday, Alnaghy said he considered himself a paedophile and asked to be given treatment for his condition.

A psychologist’s report found that Alnaghy had a psycho-sexual disorder, in part due to his own experience of being sexually abused as a child while in a refugee camp in Lebanon.

The court heard that Alnaghy had handed himself in to police and made full admissions about the incident. This led Mr Kernaghan to ask for leniency.

However, prosecutor Jackie Azad argued that Alnaghy had repeatedly pursued the boy over a number of hours and used cigarettes and money to try to get the child to touch him.

‘‘The protection of the community is paramount,’’ she told the court, in seeking for Alnaghy to be put behind bars.

Magistrate Pearce acknowledged that Alnaghy was remorseful for his actions but said full-time prison was the appropriate sentence given the seriousness of the crime.

Alnaghy lodged an immediate severity appeal, but his application to be released on bail in the interim was rejected.