Man assaulted girl and began following her on social media
A MAN sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl on the street then after his arrest started following her on social media and watching videos she was posting, a court has heard.
The assault happened while farm labourer Andrew Chapman was on police bail after being arrested following concerns being raised about his behaviour.
Sending the 29-year-old to prison a judge told the defendant he had assaulted a vulnerable teenager who was “still trying to find out about the world”.
She said the rehabilitation and help he needed would have to await the end of his custodial sentence.
Swansea Crown Court heard that on September 21 last year Chapman parked his pickup truck on a street in Carmarthen and then began talking to a 16-year-old girl who was vaping nearby.
Harry Dickens, prosecuting, said the defendant asked the girl if he could try her vape and she agreed, and they continued talking about her age and about social media but the child became “nervous of his intentions”.
The court heard the defendant asked the girl for her phone number and asked for her a kiss - the girl refused, and at that point Chapman reached out of his vehicle and touched the front of her top around her breasts.
The defendant then asked her to “go for a spin” in the vehicle but the girl walked off – who was described as being in “distressed state” – and reported the incident.
The prosecutor said at the time of this incident the defendant was on police bail following his arrest for separate matters and was not allowed to have unsupervised contact with children.
The court heard Chapman’s Mitsubishi was subsequently spotted by police on the A40 near Carmarthen and the vehicle was stopped and the driver arrested.
In his subsequent interview the defendant – who worked as a labourer on a dairy farm – said he has been at work that morning and rather than going home to his wife he had decided to park up “for a rest”.
He accepted speaking to a girl and saying he found her attractive and had asked her to go to Mcdonald’s but denied sexually assaulting her.
The court heard that on June 23 this year the victim of the incident happened to see the defendant driving a tractor in a village in Carmarthenshire, though she was not sure if he had seen her or whether he recognised her.
The following day Chapman began following the girl’s Tiktok account and watching videos she was posting.
Concerned at the online contact the girl contacted police and Chapman was arrested. This online contact was in breach of a previously imposed restraining order.
Andrew Chapman, of Peniel, Carmarthen, fell to be convicted for sexual assault and breach of a restraining order when he appeared in the dock.
Hannah George, for Chapman, said the defendant had been brought up in a loving and supportive family.
She said reports before the court identified the defendant’s likely learning difficulties and she said his “intellectual age does not match his chronological age”.
The barrister said Chapman had always been a hard worker with a passion for farming, adding: “In his view, farming is his purpose in life”.
Judge Catherine Richards told Chapman he had sexually assault a teenage girl who was “still trying to find out about the world”, and then committed a very serious breach of a court order designed to protect his victim.
Sending the defendant to prison she said the rehabilitation and help he needed would have to await the end of his custodial sentence.
Chapman was sentenced to 20 months in prison comprising six months for the sexual assault and 14 months for breaching a restraining order to run consecutively.
He will serve up to half that sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
The defendant will be a registered sex offender for the next seven years, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.