A man who groped an ambulance worker after drunkenly falling and hitting his head on a wall has been handed a community order. Yonas Mulugeta, 41, carried out the assault while being treated at the Royal Liverpool Hospital in July last year.
Attack on ambulance worker
Emergency services were called after Mulugeta was reported to be "behaving aggressively" following his fall against a brick wall. Two ambulance staff found him "intoxicated and agitated" and placed him in a wheelchair before taking him into an ambulance, where he "acted obstructively and was lashing out", prosecutor Emily Land told Liverpool Crown Court.
He calmed down on the journey to hospital and fell asleep on a stretcher. When an emergency medical technician tried to move his dangling arm, he woke up, grabbed her by the buttocks and "squeezed while pulling her body into him and the stretcher". He also tried to spit at her, though the saliva landed on himself, and was restrained by a police officer at the hospital.
Victim impact and defence
In a statement read to the court, the victim said the incident "has changed her behaviour and made her more cautious" and that work in the Liverpool area increases her anxiety. She said she "does not appreciate what happened while she was trying to help this gentleman".
Mulugeta told detectives he had not taken his medication for two days and had been drinking heavily, claiming he had no recollection of the events. He said he was "a married man, so wouldn't have derived any sexual gratification from it".
Sentence and conditions
Mulugeta, of Fairfield, Liverpool, admitted one count of sexual assault. He was given a 12-month community order with a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 30 days and a 60-day alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement.
Judge Garrett Byrne told him: "You, to put it bluntly, were off your face on alcohol. You fell over and hit your head. She was there to help you. Your behaviour thereafter was disgraceful." He added that the victim "is perfectly entitled to expect to be able to carry out her job without being groped by you".
The judge warned that an electronic tag would detect any alcohol in his system and that drinking would breach the order, leading to a more onerous sentence. Mulugeta must also pay £250 compensation to his victim, deducted from his benefits, and sign the sex offenders' register for five years.
