A Coniston man who molested another while the victim lay sleeping near his fiancee says he does not remember committing the crime.
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Leon Raikes pleaded guilty to sexual touching without consent and faced Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday for sentencing.
Magistrate Claire Girotto classified the 30-year-old's crime, which occurred on a November morning last year in the Illawarra, as "pretty serious".
"This is masturbating another person while they're asleep," Magistrate Girotto said.
The Crown prosecutor told the court that imprisonment was the only option because of the crime itself, as well as the need to denounce such behaviour and provide a deterrence.
The prosecutor said the crime occurred in an environment where the victim had felt safe.
The victim was in a vulnerable position being asleep, he said, and Raikes would have known he did not consent.
The court heard the victim's fiancee was less than a metre away at the time.
Raikes' lawyer Patrick Schmidt had proposed a conditional release order without conviction, to which Magistrate Girotto said: "Are you serious?"
Mr Schmidt said Raikes had no memory of the offending and was not attracted to the victim, nor had he pursued him.
He said the court could not sentence an offender to imprisonment unless there was no other alternative, and submitted Raikes could be considered a youthful offender.
The court heard Raikes and the victim had been partying before the crime occurred.
The Crown prosecutor said "self-induced intoxication" could not be used to mitigate the behaviour.
Mr Schmidt also told the court that Raikes had given up his nursing studies and that dream was over if he received a conviction.
But Magistrate Girotto said there had to be a conviction.
"It's not just 'a grope', it's a bit more than that," she said.
Magistrate Girotto said she needed more time to consider the sentence.
Raikes will return to court next month.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
