Pervert OAP who molested two women is spared from jail because of his age

Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on Wednesday, July 11, how John Kenneth Cater, 81, of Hunloke Avenue, Boythorpe, Chesterfield, groped the 17-year-old and the woman, who both cannot be named for legal reasons, on two separate occasions.

Lynn Bickley, prosecuting, said the 17-year-old victim had been sitting on a wall on Low Pavement when Cater started rubbing her thigh and tried to kiss her, and he put an arm around the second victim and touched her bottom in Rykneld Square, Chesterfield.

The teenager had previously seen Cater smiling and winking at her, according to Mrs Bickley, and he walked over and sat next to her in August, last year, and put his hand on her thigh and rubbed it up and down.

Mrs Bickley said: “He put his right hand flat on her left thigh and was rubbing up and down between her knee and groin area.”

As the youngster got up Cater touched her neck and he tried to kiss her but she pulled away, according to Mrs Bickley, and he said they would have to meet again for a good time.

The second victim, who is aged in her 20s, had been shopping in Chesterfield in September, last year, and was waiting for a taxi outside the tourist information centre, in Rykneld Square, when Cater approached her and began chatting.

She stated that Cater asked her, ‘do you get a lot of it?’, which she took as a reference to sex and he put his arm around her back before placing his hand next to her bottom.

Mrs Bickley said: “He took his arm and put it around her and she wanted desperately to get away from him and she made an excuse to go to the tourist information centre to get leaflets.”

The first victim said she has been left feeling nervous and anxious and the second victim stated she has been a victim of something similar in the past and it brought back bad feelings.

Cater, who has a previous conviction for a sexual assault, had denied two counts of sexual assault but was found guilty of both offences after a previous trial hearing.

Defence solicitor Kirsty Sargent said: “He had not entered the town centre to find people to assault.

“The trial was heard on the basis that he had been in the town centre for legitimate purposes and he had shopping with him.

“There is no suggestion these offences were premeditated with any sense of planning.”

Magistrates sentenced Cater to 26 weeks of custody suspended for two years with a Sex Offenders Treatment Requirement and a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement.

He was also ordered to pay £200 in compensation to each of the complainants.

Magistrates told Cater his custodial sentence had been suspended because of his age and ill health and because his previous conviction dated back to 1987.

Cater was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for seven years to better manage his potential risk to others.