Girl was sexually assaulted in queue at Morrisons' Westgate store (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Girl was sexually assaulted in queue at Morrisons' Westgate store

7:00am Tuesday 12th March 2013 in News By Claire Armstrong, T&A Reporter

A drunk grandfather sexually assaulted a teenage girl while she was queueing at a supermarket till.

Czech factory worker Ladislav Tiser, 56, assaulted the 16-year-old at Morrisons in the Westgate Centre on September 22 last year, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

The ordeal made the teenager vomit through fear, the court was told.

Prosecuting, Shamaila Qureshi said the girl, who cannot be named, had been out shopping with her mother at about 3.30pm.

She said: “The complainant and her mother were waiting in a queue at the tills. The complainant was on the phone to her friend. The defendant walked towards her.”

Mrs Qureshi said Tiser then indecenty touched her over her shorts.

She said: “Her mother was stood in front of her. The defendant walked away up the beer aisle and it was at this point that the complainant informed her mother what had happened.”

She said security officers detained Tiser while the police arrived.

She said: “The complainant states she was sick and in shock. The incident left her feeling traumatised and very frightened.”

Mitigating for Tiser, Kate Batty said he was a father and grandfather and had no previous convictions. She said: “He is a man who has worked hard his whole life.

“He has been in this country for nine years and apart from the last month he has worked during the entirety of this time.”

Sentencing, Judge Robert Bartfield said: “The victim was a girl of 16 years of age out with her mother shopping. She was in Morrisons supermarket. You were drunk and decided to demonstrate your sexual interest in her by touching her over her shorts. It was one single touching and was committed in front of crowds of shoppers. This testifies to how drunk you must have been.

“It was, however, a very upsetting experience for this very young girl and I could well imagine what you would want to do to somebody who had done it to your daughter.”

Tiser, of Pembroke Street, West Bowling, Bradford, was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 12 months, which means he will not serve the jail term unless he re-offends within that time.

He was ordered to complete 160 hours of unpaid work in the community and must pay £600 court costs.

He must also sign the sex offenders’ register.