A sex attack victim suffered serious back injuries as she was dragged down a flight of stairs by a man who was groping her in her own home.
Paul Davey knocked over the woman as she tried to get away from him and then lay on top of her as he grabbed her breasts.
She succeeded in kicking him away but he held on to her so they both ended up falling down the stairs, Exeter Crown Court was told.
Davey, aged 35, of Highweek Road, Newton Abbot, admitted sexual assault and jailed for eight months, suspended for two years and ordered to undertake 20 hours rehabilitation activities.
Recorder Mr Donald Tait told him: ’I do not have to sentence you for the injuries which the victim suffered during this incident, but they would not have happened but for your sexual assault.
’To that extent you bear responsibility for the pain and suffering she endured as a result of her falling down the stairs with you.
’This sentence gives you an incentive to behave yourself, and at the age of 35, quite frankly, to grow up.’
Miss Bathsheba Cassel, prosecuting, said Davey visited the woman at her home on the night of November 9 last year and lost his temper when she asked him to leave.
She went upstairs to get away when he refused but he followed, pushing her over as she reached the landing, and than holding her from behind and thrusting his pelvis into her.
Miss Cassel said: ’He grabbed her breasts over clothing. He grabbed her crotch and the waistband of her trousers and tried to kiss her. She thought she was going to be raped.
’She kicked out at him and he lost his balance and fell down the stairs. As he fell he grabbed her and took her with him.’
A victim impact statement said she suffered two broken vertebrae and her family had to look after her young child for a month while receiving treatment, including an operation.
Mr Jeffrey Segan, mitigating, said Davey was so remorseful about his behaviour he had been ’in pieces’ after his arrest. He has started counselling and hopes to attend an anger management course.