Wayne Regan Renault, 51, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after pleading guilty to the indecent assault, which the victim said had left her feeling "violated" and unsafe in the house.
Twelve years earlier, the defendant was sentenced to community detention and intensive supervision for an almost identical crime.
Renault had been completing a maintenance task at a property he owned when he made sexual advances towards his tenant.
On that occasion, the defendant unzipped his overalls and rubbed himself against the victim and only left the address when he heard another flatmate getting out of the shower.
In February this year, the court heard his most recent victim began explaining the extent of the window-cleaning work she required when Renault abruptly diverted the conversation in a smuttier direction.
He asked the woman when she had last been intimate and when she turned round, she found the defendant had already started to disrobe.
A police summary noted Renault had got as far removing his pants when the victim told him to stop.
Once fully clothed again, the defendant sat on the couch, but he remained persistent with his lewd tone.
"The victim was alarmed and sat down opposite the defendant," court documents said.
"The victim struggled to regain her composure and continued the conversation regarding the window cleaning."
As she stood up and moved towards the kitchen, Renault responded by, again, taking off his pants and approaching her.
After speaking about other sexual liaisons, the defendant told the Dunedin grandmother he wanted to see her underwear, then tried to remove her top.
When he yanked on the waistband of the victim’s trousers she "regained her courage" and forcefully ordered him to leave.
Finally, Renault complied — after getting dressed.
But the woman’s repeated protestations did not deter him from returning just hours later.
That evening, the victim saw the man standing outside her kitchen window, trying to get her attention.
Renault left shortly after.
When interviewed by police he declined to comment but counsel Andy Belcher said the crime was explicable by his client’s autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.
The court heard it caused Renault to misread social cues, but Judge June Jelas rejected the assertion it was an operative factor.
"You were invited to the home as a window cleaner," she said.
"I’m not sure where the black-and-white lines got blurred."
In an interview with Probation, Renault claimed the conduct of the victim had led to him misinterpreting the situation, but the judge stressed there was nothing to suggest the woman had in any way invited the obscene advances.
The victim said she had travelled widely and saw herself as an independent person, but she had since had security cameras and a personal alarm installed at her home.
Her windows "remained really dirty" and she said though it seemed a trivial point, it was a measure of how her trust in others had been shattered.
Renault was sentenced to six months’ home detention and ordered to pay the victim $450.
