Groper on probation

A MARRIED father-of-two has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a female workmate at a ritzy Gold Coast hotel after he had been “on notice” for previously touching her backside and breasts.

Bikash Gautam, 35, was given a two-year probation order and admonished in the Southport District Court for not realising “no means no”.

The court heard he assaulted a co-worker at the Hilton in 2017 after the woman had told him to get away. The assault included him groping the woman’s breast and putting her hand on his penis on the outside of his pants.

Prosecutor Kathleen Christopherson said the woman felt shameful and embarrassed after the assault, which had an impact on her work.

Barrister Angus Edwards, for Gautam, said the pair were familiar. “They had hugged on numerous occasions, on numerous occasions my client had touched the complainant on the bottom,” he said.

“She hadn’t complained at all about that, she was consenting to that. There was no sign of reluctance, so it’s accepted that it’s all consensual.”

Mr Edwards said things changed when he picked her up at work and grabbed her breasts, to which she responded by telling him to stop.

“It’s from that point … he should have understood that the contact was no longer open to him,” he said.