UK: Drunk woman gropes man during football match, averts jail-term

Liverpool (UK): Despite the victim’s request that she be tried as a man, a woman who drunkenly groped a man was let off by court without jail-term, reports say.

Jemma Whiteside, 40, a mother of six, sexually assaulted a man on February 26 during a football match between Everton’s and Manchester City at Goodison Park in Liverpool.

Reportedly, she grabbed the man’s genitals, ‘rubbed’ herself against him, and said, ‘I’m going to f**k him and I don’t even know his name.’

In a police report, the victim who was reportedly shocked and upset after the incident said, “it should not matter whether the assault was committed by a man or a woman, it should be treated the same”.

As per the law, Whiteside was supposed to get upto a decade term. However, even after held as guilty of charges in the court last month, the woman was let off without any jail-term.

Instead, the Sefton magistrates court sentenced her to a nine-month community service, along with 15 days in a rehabilitation programme.

She has also been asked to pay £200 as fine and £400 in compensation, along with £200 in costs and a £95 surcharge.

The victim, who is in his 40s, had said that he was looking out towards the concourse when the woman came up behind him, grabbed hold of his testicles.

She then shouted, “I am going to f**k him later, and I don’t even know his name”.

He described how she went up the stairs and ‘rubbed’ her posterior on his shoulder before walking off.

“Her speech was very slurred, she was unsteady on her feet and her eyes were glazed. I was under the impression that she was very drunk,’ the victim said in his complaint.

He added: “I was shocked. I looked at a colleague and he looked at me and I said, “did that just happen?”

Whiteside reportedly told police that she was feeling upbeat during the game, that she was not drunk, and that she was ‘mortified’ to have been arrested for sexual assault.

During an interview, she said she ‘liked Scouse men,’ according to police.

“As a die-hard city supporter, that is not something I can see myself saying,” Whiteside said at the hearing.

“I would never do something like this to my boyfriend in public. Any Man City supporter will agree wholeheartedly,” she said, adding that the man took offence at her, and that he disliked her.

“I am a decent mother and a decent City supporter. I would never act in a way that would limit my ability to see Man City.”

Whiteside stated that because it was ‘crowded,’ she ‘brushed’ against the victim.

District Judge James Clarke, who found her guilty last month, stated, “The victim on this occasion said he felt contact – and it was quite an unusual and unexpected type of contact.”

‘Clearly, the words “I will have him later and I don’t even know his name” are a strange thing for the victim to misinterpret or invent if that is what it is suggested he did,’ Clarke continued.

“When people drink, they can and often do things that are completely out of character. I am sure the lady had been drinking throughout the afternoon,” the judge said.

One in 20 men have been raped or sexually assaulted as an adult according to Rape Crisis England and Wales.

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