Client Guilty of Assault by Penetration - Avoids Prison

Case study summary

Our client pleaded guilty to assault by penetration. He performed oral sex on his friend's partner whilst she slept. We instructed the right barrister and prepared an attractive mitigation bundle. He received a suspended sentence.

Case study

Our client was a professional man who was going through a difficult divorce with his ex-wife just before the pandemic. His life was turned upside down and he turned to alcohol. When Covid restrictions lifted, he attended an event with his friends and returned to their home. He made the mistake of entering his friends bedroom and performing oral sex on her without her consent.

He instructed our specialist sexual offences solicitors when he was charged. He was honest from the very beginning in that he was guilty of these offences. His main concern was going to prison and losing his job, which he had worked extremely hard for. We represented him without judgement. We took full instructions on his divorce, his circumstances at the time and why this happened.

We instructed a specialist barrister with experience in these particular cases. We spent hours preparing an attractive mitigation bundle for the judge and obtained strong character references on his behalf. All of this combined led the judge to conclude that he was no longer a risk to women and could be managed in the community. He received a suspended sentence.

Our client was particularly grateful about this result. He was genuinely remorseful and had never been involved with the police before. He was ashamed of his actions and was expecting to go to prison.

He is now able to continue working and can focus on getting the help he requires to address his difficult personal circumstances.