Man faces jail for kissing and touching blind woman inappropriately while in a night club

Plymouth, England: A man who kissed and fondled a woman in a nightclub faces being jailed for sexual assault - because she was blind and thought he was someone else.

Reveller Stephen Hayes, 27, was on a night out in The Union Rooms when he began slow dancing with the woman, who has a visual impairment.

She thought he was another man she had met earlier that night and they began to kiss and cuddle.

Hayes then went to touch her under her clothes and she realised her mistake and pushed him away with her knee, a court heard.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, made a complaint to police and Hayes was charged with sexual assault, which he denied at Plymouth Crown Court.

Because of her condition, the victim can only recognise people by their body shape and clothing rather than facial features.

The court heard the woman admitted that she kissed Hayes on the dance floor but that she had done so by mistake.

Prosecutors claim she soon realised it was not the friend she had been with earlier, but in fact a stranger.

Hayes, from Plymouth, Devon, pleaded guilty to indecently touching the woman without her consent.

Jo Martin, prosecuting, said that Hayes approached the woman at a pub in Plymouth at about 1am.

She was on a night out with friends but says she was not drunk as she had only had a couple of glasses of wine.

The court heard she thought Hayes was a friend she had seen earlier that evening and they danced closely and started kissing.

Miss Martin said that he moved to indecently touch her under her clothes and she then realised the man was not her friend.

She said: "She did not want to carry on".

Miss Martin said that he did touch her sexually and she moved her knee to push him away.

She added that a doorman, who had seen some of what happened, intervened.

The woman did not make a complaint to door staff immediately but did tell a female friend what had happened.

Miss Martin said: "She decided that it was a horrible experience and that she would put it down to experience."

But she added that police were called when there was "argy bargy" between Hayes and the woman's friends.

Miss Martin said an officer visited the woman at her home a few days later and that was when she decided to make an official complaint.

She added that Hayes later said he did not know the woman was disabled and that he believed what happened between them was consensual.

Judge Paul Darlow then formally directed the jury to reach a guilty verdict and warned Hayes he could be facing jail when he returns for sentencing on February 27.