Woman assaulted in own home

A TASMANIAN man told a woman, “I’ve wanted to do this for so long”, before molesting her in her own home, a court has heard.

Bridgewater man Cameron Matthew Roberts, 28, previously pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault with indecent intent, with Hobart Magistrate Chris Webster hearing the evidence on Friday.

The court heard the assault occurred about 1.40pm on November 1, 2020, at his victim’s residence.

His victim told the court Roberts had asked to come over to obtain cigarettes. CCTV footage shown to the court depicted the pair sharing a cigarette outside the woman’s house.

Roberts’s victim told the court that while they were conversing outside, Roberts told her “he felt strange around me or scared, he was shaking or something”.

After the pair returned inside to enable Roberts to have a drink, he approached her for what she thought was a hug, but instead told her, “I’ve wanted to do this for so long”, before placing both his hands on her buttocks inside her dressing gown but over her pyjama shorts and squeezing, the victim said. In a message, tendered to the court, sent shortly after the assault, Roberts’s victim told the defendant, “I am disgusted … Thanks for sending me into an anxiety attack”.

In his evidence, Roberts told the court he hugged his victim by placing his hands on her shoulder blades, not her buttocks, and was “gobsmacked” to receive the message.

Mr Webster convicted Roberts, who is currently in home detention for an unrelated matter, and sentenced him to three months’ imprisonment wholly suspended for an operational period of three years.