Tourist assault lands shop worker on Sex Offenders' Register

Wednesday 25 April 2018

A 25-year-old store manager who sexually assaulted a tourist making her way back to her hotel after a party will spend the next four years on the Sex Offenders' Register.

Sentenced in the Magistrate's Court yesterday, Micael Alexandre Miran Martins was also ordered to complete 120 hours' community service.

He admitted grabbing the woman by the crotch on the evening of the 22 April 2017 when she walked through town to the Mayfair Hotel where she was staying, despite him telling police that he had no recollection of the incident.

The Magistrate’s Court heard that the woman had visited the island for a birthday party at the Post Horn pub in St. Helier, but got lost as she made her way back to her hotel as she didn’t know the area well. 

Pictured: The tourist had been at a birthday party at the Post Horn pub in St. Helier.

She asked for directions when she reached Bath Street, but as she approached a junction she was confronted by Martins who she described as “standing very close to her.” The woman asked if he “had a problem” to which he didn’t reply to but instead sexually assaulted her over her clothing before running away.

Police Legal Adviser Susie Sharpe told Magistrate Bridget Shaw that the woman spoke to the other men with Martins at the time of the incident, and followed them as they left the area but lost them. She called Police around 23:50 when she arrived at her hotel room.

Martins was arrested after he was recognised from CCTV footage, and the woman formally identified him in November 2017.

He told Police that he “can be bad when drunk” and “100% doesn’t remember” indecently assaulting the woman.

Ms Sharpe told the court “alcohol is clearly an aggravating factor” so called for Martins to be banned from licensed premises as well as kept on the Sex Offenders' Register for a minimum of five years.

Pictured: The tourist got lost as she made her way back to the Mayfair Hotel, where she was staying.

Defending, Advocate Ian Jones opposed the exclusion order to licensed premises as “disproportionate and highly inappropriate” and criticised the Sex Offenders' Register period as “excessive.”

He gave court references for Martins by his employer, who was also in court to support him, stating this assault was “out of character.” He also passed over a letter of remorse.

Magistrate Bridget Shaw told Martins: “This is a serious matter. This was a woman who was a stranger. She should have been able to walk through the centre of St. Helier on her own at night without being indecently assaulted in an intimate area by you.

“You violated her when you touched and grabbed her in that way. That is a violation of her privacy, dignity and respect, just because you could.”

Magistrate Shaw said she acknowledged the employer references for Martins, as well as the fact that he had no history of sexual assault.

Pictured: Micael Martins told police officers he “can be bad when drunk” and “100% doesn’t remember” indecently assaulting the woman when questioned. 

She handed him a community service sentence of 120 hours and a six-month probation order. He will also be on the Sex Offenders' Register for a minimum of four years instead of five, as he has not reoffended in the year since the incident.

Magistrate Shaw told Martins: “I hope this is a lesson to you that you cannot simply walk up to a woman in the street and touch her in that way.”