A man has been jailed after grabbing a young boy and telling him to 'get inside the bushes' at a County Durham park, before sexually assaulting a woman in a takeaway shop the previous day.
Durham Crown Court heard that Timothy Clement, 35, of Wolsingham Road, Tow Law, approached two young boys at a park in Peterlee earlier this year. He was wearing a trench coat and carrying a bottle of wine in his pocket. Prosecutor Chris Baker said one of the youngsters ran home to get his football while Clement asked the other for directions to the toilets.
However, the situation took a sinister turn when the boy showed Clement to the public toilets and they were closed. Mr Baker told the court: '[The boy] pointed to the bushes which Mr Clement could urinate in. He went into the bushes and returned and thanked [the boy] who was on his phone. He put out his hand to shake Mr Clement's and it's at that point the defendant grabbed his phone and grabbed his wrist. He was shouting "get inside the bushes".'
The terrified boy ran away shouting 'no' and pleading for his phone back before Clement claimed he was 'only joking' and threw the mobile to him. The boy's friend, who was on the phone during the incident, heard the commotion and raised the alarm. His father rushed to the park and confronted Clement before police attended.
In a victim impact statement, the boy's mother said her son will no longer walk to school, suffers from panic attacks and is deeply upset by what happened. The boy was left with scratches from the ordeal.
The court also heard that the day before the park incident, Clement went to a takeaway in Peterlee, heavily intoxicated, and began banging on the windows. He entered the shop and assaulted a woman. Mr Baker said: 'He reached out and touched her left breast. The woman shouted at him "you've just touched my ***, leave me alone". He replied "No, I haven't". She again told him he had assaulted her and he said "don't accuse me".'
A man dragged Clement out of the shop, but he returned shortly after covered in blood and slammed bottles of alcohol on the counter, smashing them. The female victim was so frightened that she vomited and later said she was unable to leave her flat for hours.
Mitigating, Jonathan Gittins, said Clement had submitted early guilty pleas and was 'devastated' about his actions. He told the court Clement had been diagnosed with epilepsy while in custody and believed a seizure may have contributed to his 'awful behaviour'. The defendant was engaging with mental health services and had a job making clothing at HMP Holme House.
Clement, who has 19 previous convictions for 39 offences, admitted charges of common assault relating to the boy and a second count of assault involving the woman. He was jailed for 12 weeks on Friday.