A father-of-four sexually assaulted a child during a visit to a hotel and spa, a court has heard. Mark Brown touched the boy's groin in what a judge described as a piece of 'drunken, boorish, childish, loutish behaviour' – however, he accepted there was no sexual motivation to the incident.
Counsel for the self-employed fisherman said he would not seek to persuade the court the actions of his client had been 'anything other than stupid'.
Carina Hughes, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that the assault took place at the Cliff Hotel and Spa in Gwbert near Cardigan in June 2024 when Brown touched the genital area of a boy under 16 over his clothing.
In a statement read to the court by the prosecutor, the victim said he had tried to forget what happened but was still upset and said the incident had made him 'lose trust in people' and had impacted his education. The barrister said the assault had also meant the teenager 'no longer feels comfortable with basic human contact', and had turned to self-harming.
Mark Brown, aged 38, of Blackbridge Drive, Blackbridge, Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, had previously been convicted at trial of sexual assault of a child under 16 when he returned to the dock for sentencing. He has four previous convictions for 10 offences 'predominantly' for motoring matters.
Craig Jones, for Brown, said it was accepted by all parties that there had been no sexual motivation in the defendant's actions. He said the incident had been 'fleeting in the extreme' and said he would not seek to persuade the court the actions of the father-of-four and self-employed fisherman had been 'anything other than stupid'.
Judge Paul Thomas KC said Brown may have considered what he did to be 'physical banter' and a joke but said it had been a 'public humiliation' for his young victim and had a serious impact on him. He told the defendant he had engaged in 'drunken, boorish, childish, loutish behaviour' and said Brown had then not been man enough to admit what he had done and had decided to put the complainant through the ordeal of giving evidence at trial, 'something which was in line with your selfish and immature character'.
The judge said having presided over the trial he was satisfied there had been no sexual motivation behind Brown's 'prattish' behaviour and that a sexual harm prevention order would not be appropriate, adding there was no order a court could impose to stop the defendant acting like an 'oaf'. Judge Thomas asked the defendant rhetorically how he would feel if someone came up to one of his daughters and grabbed her between the legs, saying he expected the answer would be 'absolutely outraged'.
Brown was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for 24 months, and was ordered to complete a rehabilitation course and to abide by an alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement for the next 120 days. The defendant will be a registered sex offender for 10 years.
