Jayson Aljecara Felipe, 40, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to indecent assault.
The court heard that on December 7, 2023, the defendant was at the Dunedin Social Club and during the evening was befriended by an 18-year-old woman.
She took Felipe by the hand and led him to another bar, where she was denied entry due to her high level of intoxication.
They returned to the first bar and while the woman drank some water, the defendant approached her and they kissed each other.
Felipe then put his hands down her skirt and molested her.
The bar manager was alerted and approached the victim in her "incoherent state" to ask if she was OK, the police summary said.
She replied she was "all good" and left before calling an Uber home.
Yesterday, Judge Jane Farish described the incident as a "one-off".
"He’s not plying her with alcohol. There’s no predatory behaviour here. This was consensual behaviour that turned non-consensual with the difficulties of both alcohol and language."
She acknowledged the victim had suffered "enormous harm", but said she understood why Felipe was confused.
"There was no indication that she was unhappy with your presence or, at that stage, your conduct," the judge said.
Felipe did not have an address at which to serve an electronically monitored sentence.
Judge Farish sentenced the sobbing defendant to 250 hours’ community work and ordered him to pay $2000 emotional harm reparation.
She noted the defendant would likely be deported once the sentence was complete.
