Being indecently assaulted in public by a "complete stranger" left a woman feeling "dehumanised and disrespected", a court has heard.
CCTV captured Rashko Radulovich speaking to the victim in a Canberra shop in July.
Video played in the ACT Magistrates Court showed the 71-year-old man hugging the woman he had just met, before he groped her breast mid-conversation and without warning.
"I no longer feel safe in the streets," the victim said in an impact statement read on Monday.
"I know this will stay with me for a long time."
As well as expressing how the assault has affected her emotionally, socially and professionally, the victim told the court she reported the incident to teach her children the behaviour was unacceptable.
"People should keep their damn hands to themselves," she wrote.
The victim described how she struggled to breathe after her nonconsensual encounter with Radulovich and said her hands trembled as she called police.
"I do not want behaviour like this to be ignored," she said.
Radulovich was convicted and handed a 12-month good behaviour order after pleading guilty to a single count of committing an act of indecency without consent.
The offender had asked the court for a non-conviction order.
"What you did was a stupid and offensive thing," magistrate James Lawton told the man.
Mr Lawton noted he needed to send a message to those in the community that "you simply cannot do this".
Defence lawyer Georgia Briggs said her client had shown remorse for his actions.
"He said his decision was reckless and that he is enormously ashamed and embarrassed," she said.
Ms Briggs told the court the man was ashamed about the "spur-of-the-moment and ridiculous decision" to indecently assault a woman he did not know.
A prosecutor said that while the crime may have been spur-of-the-moment, it had a clear and long-lasting effect on the victim.
She said the brazen conduct "demonstrated a significant disregard for the bodily autonomy" of the victim.
Radulovich has no other criminal history.
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Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; MensLine 1300 789 978; beyondblue 1300 224 636.
