A MIDDLE-aged woman with learning difficulties was sexually assaulted on a bench in a Leamington park.
A judge heard her attacker had ‘an unhealthy interest’ in pornography featuring older woman, and a caution as a teenager for similar sexual assaults.
Saad Shiekh of The Spinney, Coventry, was jailed for two-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to two charges of sexual assault.
And the 30-year-old, who had originally denied the charges and claimed the activity had been consensual, was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.
Shiekh had spent the afternoon playing cricket and then drove into Leamington for a meal in August.
Shortly before 10pm, he bought some petrol before driving back into the town centre where he parked after spotting his victim.
The woman, who was in her 40s and had what Judge Peter Cooke described as ‘blindingly obvious’ vulnerabilities, had been out for an evening walk in the Pump Room Gardens.
Shiekh approached her and asked if he could sit on the bench. When she agreed, he engaged her in conversation and asked for her number, which she refused to give.
Prosecutor Paul Fairley said it was ‘inconceivable’ he would not have realised within moments she had vulnerabilities.
But he put his arm round her and began touching her leg before putting one of his fingers in her mouth and touching her breasts, over and under her clothing.
Shiekh then undid the cord on her waistband before putting his hand inside her trousers.
He eventually returned to his car and drove off. Shiekh was found and arrested after his victim called the police.
He was interviewed a second time, after initially making no comment, after the woman picked him out in an identity procedure and his DNA was found on her waistband.
He claimed sexual contact had been consensual, and she had asked him for money.
In a statement his victim said she felt frightened and did not want to go out anymore.
Although he had no previous convictions, when he was 14 Shiekh was given a caution for four sexual assaults on three women, two of them in the street and a 76-year-old who was gardening.
Mohammed Latif, defending said Shiekh was ashamed and disgusted with himself and had apologised.
He explained Shiekh, who suffers from depression and anxiety, and has had suicidal tendencies, has tried to obtain assistance by attending a psychotherapist.
Arguing for a community order or a suspended sentence, Mr Latif added: “As his mother has put it, if he is sent to custody she is fearful that he may do something awful to himself.”
But jailing Shiekh, Judge Peter Cooke told him: “The lady you approached is an acutely vulnerable person. Her vulnerabilities, or at least some of them, are apparent on even the most cursory observations.
“They would have been blindingly obvious to an intelligent man like you the moment you began conversing with her.
“But you sought her out, and I am sure you had only one thing in mind and saw her vulnerability as an opportunity, and what unfolded over the next quarter of an hour was a terrifying ordeal for someone with her challenges.
“You used her as a sexual plaything during that quarter of an hour. It is heartrending to read her impact statement.
“You have an unhealthy interest in pornography, in particular that focussed on women older than you, which surfaced when you were 14, and again now. For someone to do as you have done is deeply troubling.”
