A MAN who sexually assaulted a woman in an argument over his snoring has been sent on a course to improve his attitude to women.
Gregory Shill was so angry when the victim complained about his snoring he pushed her up against a wall and groped her private parts.
He carried on attacking her for 30 seconds and asked her ‘who’s got the power now?, Exeter Crown Court was told.
Shill, aged 30, of Fourth Avenue, Teignmouth, admitted assault by penetration and was jailed for 20 months, suspended for two years and ordered to attend a Building Better Relationships programme.
He was also ordered to pay £500 costs and sign on the sex offenders’ register for ten years by Judge Geoffrey Mercer, QC.
He told him: ‘This was a very unpleasant sexual assault. It is an incident which has clearly had a significant effect on the victim.
‘What saves you from prison today is that from everything I have read about you, I have come to the conclusion this was very much out of character. You are 30 and have no previous convictions.’
Mr Brian Fitzherbert, prosecuting, said the woman was staying with Shill when the incident happened in Teignmouth some time ago and woke him to complain about the noise of his snoring.
He responded by pushing her against a wall and assaulting her forcefully with his fingers or fist for about 30 seconds. She was distraught and left the house immediately.
The woman made a victim statement which said the attack had a profound change on how she reacts to other people and has left her feeling like ‘a horrible person’. She is still suffering anxiety.
Miss Emily Cook, mitigating, said Shill regrets what he did and knows he should have admitted it earlier, rather than allowing the case to drag on.
She said he was under strain at the time because he was paying maintenance to a former partner for one child and had also had a young baby who was disrupting his sleep patterns.
She said the public would be better protected in the future by him going on the probation-run programme than by sending him straight to jail.