PAPUA NEW GUINEA – The Afghan refugee who brought a small boy into the Manus Island detention centre a few weeks ago has said he and friends only gave the child some food.

The man said he was confused and upset by allegations from Australia’s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton that local people suspected him of sexual assault.

“I grew up in a country that was war and bombs and fighting and all these things and I was raised without my father,” he said.

“I experienced hunger, I experienced being thirsty, I experienced poverty and I know how it feels for a child to be hungry.

“And when I see that I cannot just close my eyes and not help.”

The 34-year-old, who asked for his name to be withheld, said he was returning from playing soccer when the boy approached him and his friends and asked for food or money.

“I told him ‘I have food and fruit inside the centre, would you like to come?’ and he said ‘yes, I would like to go with you and get the fruit’,” he said.

The refugee said he and his friends then walked with the boy through a staffed security gate into the centre.

“Local security asked us, ‘what is he doing here?’ I responded that he needs food and we are going to give him food and fruit,” he said.

“The officers let us go through and we entered Oscar compound.”

The refugee said the boy sat outside the men’s living quarters while he and other men packed food for him, then security guards took the child back outside the centre.

This sequence of events has become the subject of contention in Australia, with the immigration minister suggesting it led to an increase in tension between detainees and the local community that contributed to a subsequent attack on the detention centre by Papua New Guinea Defence Force personnel on Good Friday.

But the Afghan refugee said the boy’s visit was days before the attack, and was well received by the child and by the local guards.

“It’s a shame for Peter Dutton to say that,” he said. “The action I did for this child was a favour.

“In other countries is it a shame to help a poor child? In my country it’s respected and we all do this.”

Dutton said bringing the boy inside the centre caused “angst” amongst the local community and contributed to the attack on the detention centre.

He linked it to recent allegations of sexual assault on Manus Island.

“We have seen reports, we are concerned about some allegations of sexual behaviour by the asylum seekers toward girls and women on Manus,” Dutton said.

“So I was very clear in what I’ve said and I stand by it 100 per cent.

“I haven’t deviated from it at all and I won’t because I know what I’ve said to be factually true. So that’s the reality.”

The Afghan refugee said he was horrified his actions had been associated with sexual assault.

“I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I didn’t commit any crime, it’s driving me crazy,” he said.

Police on Manus Island said they were not investigating the incident with the boy, because his parents did not make a complaint and there was no concern for his welfare.

Manus Province police commander David Yapu has also told the ABC the incident with the boy is unrelated to the attack on the centre. - ABC