Man put on probation after indecent exposure at Portelet

Saturday 08 December 2018

A 38-year-old man has been put on probation for 12 months for exposing himself to a woman walking three dogs around Portelet in August.

Andrew Paul Brown appeared in Court on Friday facing one charge of indecent exposure - his Advocate argued that Mr Brown was simply urinating, rather than deliberating exposing himself.

Legal adviser Chris Baglin told the Court that around 16:00 on 16 August, a professional dog walker was with three dogs on the Common. One of the dogs started barking which alerted her to Mr Brown, who was on the narrow path. She asked him if he was ok with dogs and carried on walking.

Two minutes later the dogs started barking again and the woman turned around to see Mr Brown a few meters behind her. He had his back towards her but she said she saw him feeling the front of his jeans.

Uncomfortable, she said she moved "swiftly" away from the area. She apparently walked 100 meters, and then saw him with his jeans around his knees. The woman said he was looking at her, and that the incident was not a "quick flash" as the man was exposed between five to 10 seconds.

The Court heard that the woman was shocked and upset and left the area immediately before calling the police.

Pictured: The incident happened near Portelet Common.

Advocate Julian Gollop, who was defending Mr Brown, said that his client accepted he had made no attempt to cover himself up when he was seen. He explained that Mr Brown was urinating and thought he was doing so in privacy.

He told Court that Mr Brown had no criminal record, and was a "person of good character" and gave the Court a letter of apology for the woman.

The Assistant Magistrate, Peter Harris, noted that the Social Enquiry Report raised a number of matters.

He however continued: "Whatever issues you have, you can't allow your behaviour to be such that it impacts on members of the public… I have read the witness impact statement, it was quite clear she was upset and, because of the work she does, quite fearful of the future." 

He put Mr Brown under a 12-month probation order to assist him in addressing his issues. He urged him not to commit any other offence in the next year and to attend the appointments he is required to.