A WOMAN sexually assaulted a man on a bus after allegedly mistaking him for her boyfriend, a court heard.
Samantha Eyers, 59, forced the man to flee after she grabbed his groin on a bus in Bournemouth.
Prosecutor, Stuart Ellacott, told Bournemouth Crown Court on August 16 that Eyers got onto the bus with a different male but decided to sit directly next to the victim.
On November 24, 2023, the victim was sat at the rear of a bus when the defendant entered at around 6.30pm at the Travel Interchange in Bournemouth.
CCTV footage played to the court showed the bus to be only moderately busy, with just one other passenger sat at the rear as well as the victim.
Mr Ellacott said the defendant sat next to the man and attempted to engage in conversation, including showing him things on her phone.
After a short period, Eyers reached her hand under the victim’s arm and touched the man’s groin area.
He immediately reacted and called for the bus driver to stop the vehicle so he could leave.
After exiting the bus, he told the driver that Eyers had began touching him.
While the man was attempting to leave the bus, the defendant went and re-joined the man she had entered the bus with.
When interviewed by police, Eyers admitted to touching the man but said she was very drunk at the time.
She accepted that she touched his groin but said she thought the victim was her boyfriend, who was the man she got onto the bus with.
Mitigating, Robert Grey, said Eyers has no previous convictions, and that this offence is the “only blight on her character.”
He added that the defendant has significant debts and lives on disability benefits.
Mr Grey said the defendant was drunk at the of the incident but is trying to reduce her alcohol intake.
“She wants to become abstinent and intends to start AA (alcohol abstinence) meetings,” said Mr Grey.
He added that Eyers still drinks three to four lagers a day and buys alcohol rather than pay for food.
“She knows she is an alcoholic but she is trying to get off it on her own efforts.”
Mr Grey said the offence was “completely out of character” and that Eyers is at a loss to explain it, other than that alcohol may have distorted her thinking.
Judge William Mousley KC fined Eyers, of Luckham Road in Bournemouth, £300 for sexually assaulting a male.
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