Locations
Charlotte Street, Folkestone, Kent, CT20
Description
A sexual predator who left a disabled victim terrified after a late-night assault has avoided jail despite a history of similar attacks.
Sacha Mazouz, 47, approached the man outside Ramsgate railway station on June 8 after the victim missed his train.
Drunk, Mazouz made explicit comments and touched the victim’s upper leg near his groin, causing him to flee to a phone box and call 999.
Mazouz banged on the phone box, trying to reach him, until police arrived and arrested him.
Magistrates in Margate heard Mazouz, from Folkestone, had prior sexual offense convictions, including a 2023 assault in a Canterbury public toilet that left a man fearing rape.
Despite being called a “danger to the public,” Mazouz received a 24-week suspended sentence for two years instead of immediate custody.
The victim said the assault left him trembling, depressed, anxious, and avoiding trains, now relying on taxis. He felt “violated” and struggled with intimacy.
Prosecutor Lucie Fish said Mazouz made inappropriate sexual comments and touched the victim’s leg despite being told he wasn’t interested.
Mazouz pleaded guilty to sexual assault and two counts of failing to comply with the sex offenders register.
The court heard he had 17 prior convictions, including serious sexual offenses, robbery with an imitation firearm, and assaulting a teenage boy in 2013 after giving him alcohol and drugs.
He also breached court orders in 2013 and 2019 and failed to declare a bank card and savings account, violating notification rules.
Defence lawyer Stephen Evans said Mazouz admitted the offenses early and needed alcohol rehabilitation, claiming no substantial intervention had been provided since 2003.
Magistrates noted the seriousness of his predatory behavior but gave him a suspended sentence, 20 rehabilitation sessions, a 26-session “Better Choices” program, six months of alcohol treatment, and a 7pm-6am curfew for six months.
He also received a stricter 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was ordered to pay £272 in costs and a victim surcharge.