'Shy' university student, 19, charged with sexual assault after he tried to be 'friendly' by touching a girl on her arm and waist
A "shy" and "awkward" student who touched a girl on her arm and waist in an attempt to befriend her was convicted of sexual assault and now faces the possibility of going behind bars.
Jamie Griffiths, 19, an undergraduate at Durham University who lives with his parents, was charged with two counts of sexual assault over two incidents in October and November last year that he insisted happened because he was desperate to make a friend, according to the Daily Mail.
The victim, then 17 and a fellow school mate of his at a secondary school in Knutsford, was walking home, told the Manchester Magistrates' Court that, the first time, she encountered Griffiths on a railway bridge as he was facing a hedge and that he suddenly turned around to face her.
"As soon as he moved I moved and said, 'stop,' and he touched my arm," she said. "I sort of jolted out of the way and went into the road to avoid him and he very quickly walked away."
She said she felt he would have touched her breast if she had not moved out of the way, but that she did not give it much thought after because she was preparing for her exams and chalked it down as weird behavior.
The second time, she said, was much more scarring. She told the court that he suddenly moved to walk in front of her, looked her straight in the eye, touched her in the side, and then quickly walked off.
"It was quite a while - three to five seconds," she explained. "He smirked at me, he didn't stop he just touched me and walked off and I broke down crying - it was quite traumatic."
She said the experience was traumatic, and in the couple of months that followed, she struggled to study, and failed to sit for her mock exams and apply to Oxford University.
"It just makes everything a little bit scarier - if there is a guy walking towards me by himself I start to panic," she said. "It was more shocking that someone thought they had the right to touch me as I walked down the street."
Griffiths denied the allegations and claimed he was just lonely and trying to make a friend. He said he recognized her when he saw her walking towards him and that he wanted to speak to her, but that "the words just didn't come out."
"I smiled at her, I was just trying to be friendly," he insisted. "I tried to get her attention and she ignored me. Touching someone's arm to get their attention I would have thought was normal. I was looking for a friend."
He said he had Googled "trying to meet new people" and "make new friends" and had since signed up to Facebook and Instagram in the hope of making new friends.
"I would say I'm very anxious and I don't naturally make friends although I really try to," he continued. "I really needed someone to talk to at the time and my intention was to make a friend - but I clearly didn't go about it the right way and I am sorry for the misunderstanding."
He also apologized for his actions, stating, "I tried to speak to her but I just couldn't, my anxiety kicks in and it makes it impossible to say anything. I would hate to make someone feel uncomfortable or scared. Maybe it is time to try to make friends another way."
The 19-year-old was ultimately convicted of the offenses, with the magistrates telling him that the evidence presented by the victim was "very clear, logical and without embellishment" and that they could "think of no motivation for you to touch the victim other than sexual."
He is scheduled to be sentenced later this month and could find himself given a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in jail. He also faces the possibility of being ordered to sign the Sex Offender Register.