Scarborough man jailed after assaulting two women - one in a mobility scooter

Joel Motsepe, 28, randomly assaulted the women in plain sight as he prowled the town.

The offences happened in front of children, York Crown Court heard.

Motsepe targeted the disabled woman in Westborough on August 7 while she was waiting for her partner to come out of a shop.

She was with her two young children and two pet dogs when Motsepe wandered over and tried to pat one of the dogs, said prosecutor Mike Greenhalgh.

The dog “took a dislike to him and started barking”, added the prosecutor.

As the woman tried to “calm things down”, Motsepe “leant over her while she was in the scooter” and assaulted her.

He did this twice as the woman put her arms out to try to stop him.

Motsepe backed away but then walked up to her teenage daughter, asked her to pick her dog up, kissed the dog and put his arm around the young girl.

The woman’s partner then came out of the shop and Motsepe scarpered, said Mr Greenhalgh.

He said the victim felt very vulnerable because she was in a mobility scooter.

She felt “sick and disgusted” by Motsepe’s actions.

Motsepe targeted his next victim shortly afterwards in the Brunswick Shopping Centre.

The woman - who was with her two young daughters, one in a pram - was waiting for her partner to return from the public toilets.

“(Motsepe) approached her and said, ‘Can I tell you something?’” said Mr Greenhalgh.

He then grabbed her by the hand and kissed her, telling her, “You are so beautiful”.

Motsepe then left, telling her: “God bless. Have a good day.”

The victim was left “shocked”.

The woman’s partner returned and spoke to security officers.

Police were informed and were able to identify Motsepe from CCTV footage in the shopping centre.

The footage showed Motsepe approaching two other women in the shopping centre.

One of them was a lone female who could be seen backing away from him.

The other woman was in a group and shrugged him off, whereupon Motsepe shook her hand and left.

Motsepe, of Royal Avenue, Scarborough, was arrested and hauled in for questioning, but “wasn’t all that forthcoming” while being quizzed by officers.

He ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault and appeared for sentence on Tuesday.

The court heard that he was already on the sex-offenders’ register following an assault on a train and had numerous previous convictions including assault, being drunk and disorderly and not paying rail fares.

He had been given a community order for the previous sexual assault on the rail worker and was still subject to that order when he assaulted the two women in Scarborough.

Motsepe, who has a drink problem, was ‘asleep’ on the train when the conductor “challenged” him, whereupon he tried to kiss her.

Nick Peacock, mitigating, said Motsepe’s offences were “rather odd” and were born “purely of drink”.

“He goes through long periods of abstinence and falls off the wagon and then goes off and does silly things like this,” added the barrister.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, told Motsepe he had “not learnt your lesson” after being given a chance by magistrates following his last conviction for sexual assault.

He said although the “level of assault” on the two women in Scarborough was “moderately low”, he had distressed the two victims who had been attacked by a “complete stranger”.

Jailing Motsepe for 12 months, Mr Morris told him he needed to learn how to “respect the opposite sex”.

Motsepe was also given a five-year sexual-harm prevention order and will have to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for another 10 years.