A Carlisle man in a wheelchair drunkenly molested a city centre bar worker.
Darren Green, 55, has been given a two-year community order by Carlisle Crown Court and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register.
CCTV captured the moment that Green groped the woman inside the busy premises at around 11pm on Saturday, May 14 2022.
The woman was helping a member of door staff as two men were ejected. As she returned to the bar and gave Green some room, he turned deliberately towards her and sexually assaulted her with his hand over her clothing.
“I felt like I froze for ages, thinking ‘did that just happen?’,” the woman later said.
Carlisle Crown Court heard that as she took hold of Green’s wheelchair to remove him from the bar, he applied the brakes. A door staff member had to help and, as the brakes were released and Green was pushed, he fell from the chair.
The woman immediately reported the incident to a passing police officer and then suffered a panic attack.
Green admitted sexual assaulting the woman who had undergone counselling since an incident which had a significant impact on her life.
“I’m still on edge at work in case I see the suspect again,” the woman said. “It is always in the back of my mind: what if he tried again?”
Green had since been banned from all Carlisle Pubwatch premises.
Judge Nicholas Barker observed after reading a probation service pre-sentence report that Green seemed at a loss to fully explain offending he had not yet addressed.
The judge imposed a two-year community order comprising rehabilitation work. He was served with a restraining order which prohibits him having future contact with the woman.
Green, of Peel Street, Carlisle, must also sign the sex offenders’ register for five years.
