Rowville crime: Sanuaja Arachchige convicted for sex assault on stranger

A Rowville man who would not stop harassing and groping a stranger he first spotted in a shopping centre has faced court.

A man has been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in a supermarket carpark.

A stranger who stalked a woman through two outer east supermarkets before accosting and groping the frightened shopper at her car, escaped jail.

The man, who needed a translator in court, pleaded guilty and was convicted for sexually assaulting a woman.

The court heard the victim had been greatly impacted by what happened and it had led to a marriage breakdown and continued to have lasting affects on her mental health, finances and ability to parent her young children.

According to court documents Rowville man Sanuaja Kotuwila Arachchige followed the woman through two supermarkets for about an hour before calling out to her in the carpark last year.

The woman ignored Arachchige at first as she didn’t know him, but stopped when he called out to her a second time.

Court documents reveal the man, who was right behind the victim, struck up a conversation, asking the woman if she was from the area and for a date.

The victim told Arachchige she was married, but he persisted and asked if they could be friends.

He told the woman he had first seen her in the supermarket and followed her.

The victim got into her car and tried to dismiss Arachchige by saying “nice to meet you”, but he instead told the frightened woman he had stopped her because she was “so hot”.

Court documents reveal the woman told the stranger she was not interested and became fearful because he would not go away.

He said, “Stop, sorry it’s your arse”, and then stood in front of her before asking her name.

The woman gave him a false name and phone number, but moments later the victim’s mobile rang and she did not answer because she knew it was Arachchige.

According to court documents the victim believed the man had obtained her phone number through an app similar to Airdrop.

Arachchige went in for a hug and grabbed the victim’s bottom and groped her left breast.

The creep then told the scared woman, “You’re so sexy”, as she pushed him away.

Despite miming his apologies to the victim, he grabbed the car door, and leaning in, asked the woman, “Will you show me your boobs?”

He again grabbed her breast and the victim kicked Arachchige away, pushed him out of the car and drove off.

Magistrate Michael Wighton said while he understood Arachchige was genuinely remorseful, the incident was serious.

Mr Wighton said the duration of the incident and persistence was one of the things that made is serious offending.

He said the victim had made it clear she wasn’t interested and there were a number of opportunities for Arachchige to stop what he was doing.

“She told you at the beginning of the exchange that she was married, which is a universal signal that a person is not interested,” Mr Wighton said.

“While she was fairly compliant with you, as women often are in these situations to avoid escalation, you went beyond merely hugging her and you touched her on her buttocks and breasts,” the magistrate said.

“You assaulted her again when she was in her car.”

He said there was an increasing community expectation that all forms of sexual assault be regarded as serious.

“The victim was simply attending to her shopping. The kind of activity someone should be able to do without fear of harassment or being assaulted,” Mr Wighton said.

“Your behaviour suggests a degree of entitlement that you need to work to remove for the way you view women.”

Mr Wighton convicted Arachchige, sentencing him to an 18-month community corrections order with 120 hours of unpaid community work.