A PREDATOR who followed an 18-year-old woman onto public transport and sexually assaulted her en route to the La Trobe University bus stop has been ordered to perform unpaid community service work.
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The man, Santino Chol, is a 25-year-old from White Hills, who moved to Australia from the Sudan as a child. He lives with his mother. He was convicted on Friday at the Bendigo Magistrates Court of sexual assault for the incident, which occurred during April last year.
He was also convicted of a separate offence of intentionally damaging property at the Bendigo Botanic Gardens for using a homemade slingshot to pelt rocks at a CCTV camera. He was ordered to pay $4401 in restitution for the repairs.
Magistrate Trieu Huynh sentenced Chol to an 18-month community corrections order and directed him to undertake 150 hours of unpaid community work. He said the CCO would need to address Chol's alcohol and behavioural problems. He said Chol had demonstrated some "insight" to his offending and its impact on his 18-year-old victim.
The court had previously heard that Chol had started talking to the 18-year-old woman at a White Hills bus stop and followed her onto the bus, even though she had asked him not to do so. He pressed himself against her, kissed her repeatedly on her hand, neck, cheek and shoulder and fondled her breasts with his hands before nuzzling them with his head.
Chol repeatedly asked if he could be her boyfriend and she refused and indicated she wanted him to stop touching her. Chol followed her off the bus and she began to cry as she made her way home. The court was told she was scared he would to pursue her and continue his assault.
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The court was told the impact of the assault on the woman had left her too frightened to take public transport and fearful of going out in public. A victim impact statement read aloud to the court earlier this month described how the assault had shaped her life.
She said she had ongoing nightmares after the event and was too afraid to go out with her friends. "This has impacted me in lots of ways," she stated. " I don't feel safe with strangers or out in public."
The woman needed medication for her nightmares and would sleep for long periods of time. Magistrate Huynh said Chol recognised the impact of his offending and had demonstrated some contrition and remorse.
"You accept she would have been scared of you," he said.
Magistrate Huynh said that if Chol had not pleaded guilty to the offences he would have sentenced him to a three month jail term on top of the community corrections order.
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