A man who grabbed a woman between the legs and exposed himself to security staff in city centre bar has been spared jail.
Liverpool Magistrates Court heard the female victim had gone to Liverpool City Centre for a night of drinking with her friend on December 15 2021, and entered Soho, in Concert Square, at around 1.30am. She and her friend were approached by Cristian Piraianu, and another man, who began dancing with them.
CCTV shows Piraianu, 29, standing behind the victim “reaching between her legs”, though this was not shown in court.
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Tom Quirke, prosecuting, said she tried to move away, but Piraianu tried again to grab between the legs again, but did not succeed the second time. The victim then told a member of bar staff.
Mr Quirke said the incident left the victim “feeling stressed, scared and upset”.
Piraianu was escorted outside by staff, and while initially compliant, he soon tried to get back inside but was refused entry. Mr Quirke continued: “At this point he was aggressive with bar staff for a number of minutes and was joined by two males outside the bar.”
He was acting increasingly aggressive, and the two males had to hold him back. Piraianu began walking towards Wood Street, “exposed his genitals and started waving it about to one of the door staff” while shouting “f***k you”.
He then urinated on a wall facing the bar, leaving one of the bar staff “repulsed” and Mr Quirke told the court the bouncer said it was the “last thing he wanted to see whilst on shift”. During an interview with police, Piraianu described himself as six or seven out of 10 drunk, and initially claimed to not remember the assault, but after seeing CCTV admitted the offence.
The 29 year old, of Lower Meadow Court, Northampton, was not represented in court, but when given the opportunity to speak, he said the behaviour was “not me”. He said: “I’m really sorry for what happened, I never meant to do that and I’ve never done something like this before.
“I would do anything to change what happened, that’s not me.” Piraianu was charged with one count of sexual assault of a female aged 16 or over, and one count of exposure.
He was handed a 12 month community order on both offences, and must undertake 200 hours of unpaid work and 30 days of rehabilitation activity. He must also attend the Horizon sex offenders programme for 35 days, and pay £215 in costs and victim surcharge.
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