A man has admitted sexually assaulting a woman who had fallen asleep after a night out.
Dylan MacDonald had already been told to stop kissing the woman on her shoulder and breast before he put his hand inside her shorts and touched her intimately.
MacDonald, 21, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit a single charge of sexually assaulting the woman at an address in the city on August 19 of last year.
Fiscal depute Emily Hood told the court that the woman had been in a city bar with a friend when they met MacDonald and another man.
The group had visited another licenced premises and drank together before returning to the home that the women shared.
Sofa sexual assault
As the group sat on the sofa, MacDonald took the strap of the woman’s top down and began kissing her on the shoulder and breast.
“She told him to stop that and he did, putting her top back into place – nothing else was said at that point,” Ms Hood told the court.
But after the woman fell asleep on the sofa, she felt MacDonald’s hand moving up the leg of her shorts and touching her intimately.
“At this point she froze, unsure of what to do or say,” the fiscal depute told Sheriff Gary Aitken.
MacDonald however, took the woman’s phone from her lap and put his hand back inside her shorts, performing a sex act on her as she “pretended to be asleep, hoping he would stop”, the court heard.
When the woman’s housemate spotted what MacDonald was doing she told him to “Move your f***ing hand”, which he did.
The housemate then went back to sleep.
No comment interview with police
In the morning the victim went to her bedroom and messaged her housemate to get him and the other man out of the house, telling her MacDonald had “just assaulted her”.
The matter was later reported to police and MacDonald was cautioned and charged before giving a no comment interview.
Marc Dickson, for MacDonald, acknowledged that the sheriff would be calling for presentencing reports and made no comments in mitigation at this hearing.
Sheriff Aitken requested a criminal justice social work report and an assessment for the Moving Forward 2 Change programme for sex offenders.
He placed MacDonald, of Drumdevan Road, Inverness, on the sex offenders register with immediate effect.
The case will call again at the end of December and MacDonald was bailed to appear at that hearing.