Faramarz Atshan, 71, of Mona Vale, sexually touched woman with his toes on the 199 bus

A man who sexually touched a woman with his bare toes on a Sydney bus has appeared in court.

The 199 bus from Manly to Palm Beach. Picture: Supplied

A retired maths teacher used his bare toes to touch a young woman’s buttocks on a northern beaches bus.

But the charge of sexually touch another person without consent against Faramarz Atshan were dismissed by Manly Local Court on Thursday.

Atshan, 71, of Mona Vale, had applied to have the matter dropped because of his mental health issues.

The court had previously heard that Atshan was divorced, lived on his own, suffered with depression and had cognitive issues.

Atshan, who already had five convictions for similar offences, had pleaded guilty to the daytime assault on the 32-year-old woman on the 199 bus that runs from Manly to Palm Beach.

Faramarz Atshan, 71, of Mona Vale, outside Manly Local Court. Picture: Manly Daily

The court heard, in relation to the latest charge, that Atshan took off the shoe on his right foot and deliberately poked it between the seat and “brushed” his bare toes across the victim’s buttocks after she sat down in front of him just after midday on July 21 last year.

She turned and asked him “what are you doing?”, according to a police facts sheet tendered to court.

Atshan shrugged his shoulders.

The woman then told the bus driver about the touching. Atshan go off the bus at Dee Why moments later and the woman reported the assault to police at Manly.

In February 2023, Atshan was convicted of five counts of sexual touching for using his bare toes to touch a schoolgirl and three young women sitting in front of him on public buses.

Atshan deliberately sat behind his female victims — aged 16, 18, 19 and 21 — and stuck his feet between the armrests of the seats in front of him before pushing his toes into, or brushing against, their buttocks, Manly Local Court was told last year.

Faramarz Atshan, 71, a former high school maths teacher of Mona Vale, outside Manly Local Court in March. Picture: Manly Daily

One of his victims, the 16-year-old girl in school uniform, was sexually assaulted twice in a month by his bare toes.

Atshan was handed a Community Correction Order to be of good behaviour for three years for those five offences. He was also ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment.