Sean Palmer: Warragul man sentenced after he assaulted a girl while she slept

A young Warragul man has avoided jail after he sexually assaulted a woman which he claimed was an “honest mistake” after a “horny dream”.

A 28-year-old Warragul man has avoided jail after he sexually assaulted a woman which he claimed was an “honest mistake” after having a “horny dream”.

Sean Palmer was sentenced to an 18-month corrections order in Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court on Thursday after he earlier pleaded guilty to sexual assault by touching.

The court heard Palmer attended a party in 2019 with the victim when the attack took place.

About 4.30am Palmer comforted the girl by giving her a pillow and pulling up her blanket before he said goodnight.

A short time later the victim was lying on her stomach when the accused reached over and began to rub her back underneath the blanket.

The court heard the victim pretended to be asleep hoping Palmer would stop touching her.

He then moved his hands down her back, underneath her jeans and underwear and started touching her.

The victim then moved to get up which caused Palmer to stop.

She went and told her friend sleeping in the other room that Palmer had forced himself on her.

Later, Palmer messaged the victim on Facebook apologising for the “honest mistake”.

“I’m sorry for this morning, it was an honest mistake,” he said.

“I had a horny dream and woke up to how we were this morning. I feel like the lowest of lows right now.”

In a police interview he said he thought the victim was “hot” but he didn’t want to have sex with her, just “hook up”.

He told police he had “f***** up” and that he went in “too passionately”.

The magistrate said the corrections order handed down was “heavy duty”.

He will be supervised and required to perform 200 hours of unpaid community work.