Court bans man from sitting next to women on trains in England and Wales

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[Chris from Nailsea]

From Get Reading:

Court bans man from sitting next to women on trains in England and Wales

A man has been banned from sitting next to women on trains after groping a passenger.

Tolulope Aladejebi, 39, vowed to appeal the verdict as he represented himself at his sentencing in Reading Magistrates Court last Friday.

The court heard a Reading woman boarded a train at London Paddington to Swansea after finishing work on December 19, 2013. She sat in a window seat and about five minutes later Aladejebi sat next to her, despite lots of empty seats available.

Ten minutes into the journey he started shuffling in his seat, said Claire French, prosecuting, which the woman described as him making himself comfy and her uncomfortable.

Miss French said the woman then described Aladejebi moving his leg so his thigh was touching her left leg. He continued to shift in his seat causing the woman to move further away until she was right up against the train window.

Miss French said: ^[The woman said] he looked like he was asleep, but kept on lifting his head. She felt a tickling feeling on her left thigh, around the pocket of her jeans she felt his hand touching her leg.^

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stood up and reported saying to Aladejebi ^what the f*** are you doing, you just touched me^ before pushing past him and going to a toilet.

In a victim impact statement summarised to the court, the woman said the incident had caused her a great deal of stress and forced her to take time off work.

Miss French said in interview Aladejebi told police he was very tired and had fallen asleep on the train. The next thing he knew a woman was accusing him of sexually assaulting her.

Aladejebi, an information security professional of Winterbourne Road, Swindon, has no previous convictions. Speaking to the court he said: ^I know by God^s grace I am not a criminal. For someone to tell me I should not sit where I want to sit, that is not fair to me.^

Aladejebi denied sexual assault, but was convicted by magistrates.

District judge Davinder Lachhar sentenced Aladejebi to a two-month curfew order between 9pm and 6am, and a two-year sexual offences prevention order stopping him from sitting next to women on trains in England or Wales.

Aladejebi was also ordered to pay ^720 in costs and ^150 compensation to his victim.