Upper Ballinderry man (64) is put on Sex Offenders' Register following hotel incident
A 64-year-old man has been ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for five years following an incident at a hotel.
John Totten, of Chapel Road in the Upper Ballinderry area near Lisburn, appeared in the dock at Antrim Magistrates' Court, sitting in Ballymena, on Thursday (May 23) for sentencing after previously contesting the matter and being convicted of a charge of sexual assault.
The charge was that in December last year he 'intentionally touched (the woman) the circumstances being that the touching was sexual, that she did not consent to the touching and you did not reasonably believe that (she) so consented'.
A prosecutor said the defendant had been at a hotel and he told the woman at around 1.40am she could wait in a room until a taxi arrived.
The prosecutor said the woman sat on a sofa in the room and the defendant sat beside her and "forced his lips onto hers".
The woman asked him what he was doing and the defendant replied: "I have been wanting to do this for ages," the court heard.
The prosecutor said the defendant also placed his hand on the woman's "upper thigh and kept it there".
The woman told the defendant she was "not comfortable" and left the room and was banging on doors to try and get someone's attention. She contacted a family member who arrived and collected her.
The prosecutor said that when interviewed the defendant had denied the offence.
A defence lawyer said the defendant, a married man with a daughter, had a clear record and the incident was "completely out of character". He said the defendant was assessed as a low likelihood of offending.
The lawyer said there had been "a lot of alcohol" on the night in question.
District Judge Nigel Broderick told Totten: "This is a serious charge. You may or may not accept my findings but I was satisfied after I had heard all the evidence that the complainant had given reliable and credible evidence."
Ordering the defendant to do 200 hours of Community Service, the judge said it was a direct alternative to prison.
The defendant was ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to the victim and was also put on the Sex Offenders' Register for five years.