A woman in her late 70s has developed "a habit of looking over my shoulder" after being sexually "violated by a total stranger" who touched her groin in a public place.
An ACT Magistrates Court document states that, last June, Lal Ro Puia, 27, was at Holy Sheet! in the South.Point Tuggeranong shopping centre, where he pressed himself against the woman from behind then slid his hands down towards her vagina.
The store manager was nearby and yelled out words to the effect of "leave the lady alone" and "don't touch the lady".
The woman turned around and saw Puia, described in the court document as having a "pencil moustache" and wearing a black hoodie pulled over his head.
She immediately left the store and heard the store manager yell "don't follow the lady, leave her alone".
The manager grabbed Puia and told him to let go of the victim, who was left distressed and confused, after the offender tried to grab her by the shoulder.
The manager, concerned Puia would follow her, called security.
About half an hour later, Puia went into another store at the centre where he tapped a female worker's buttock.
Three days later, Puia went back to the second victim's workplace with a bottle of wine, leaving her fearful he came back to see her.
She called security, who then called police while she hid in the shop.
Both victims and the store manager gave statements to police, who also reviewed the centre's CCTV.
The offender, of Queanbeyan, appeared via audio-visual link in court on Friday for sentencing after pleading guilty to two counts of indecent acts.
Prosecutor Sam Bargwanna read out the 77-year-old woman's victim impact statement, which read that she was violated when "manhandled from behind".
The victim said she believed she was safe because it was in a public place.
"[The offending] made me leave my home a lot less," she wrote.
"I've developed a habit of looking over my shoulder."
She commended the store manager for his "quick action" and "chasing the man off".
She wrote that the perpetrator seemed "to have no compunction about touching any females" because of the subsequent offence.
The court heard the offender had been sentenced to four months' jail for the same offending, and had a history of violence and non-compliance with court orders.
Puia, who was born in Burma and moved to Australia in 2008, also pleaded guilty to two driving offences from an incident last September.
A mental health report concluded that the offender had schizophrenia that related to his driving offences.
Both the prosecutor and Puia's lawyer, Edward Chen, agreed that some of the medical opinions in that report were also relevant to the indecent acts.
There was evidence that some form of psychosocial intervention would benefit the offender.
Magistrate Louise Taylor said that while the indecent acts were at the lower end of the scale, women were "entitled to freely move around without this sort of interference" with their bodies.
Ms Taylor said women should also be able to be in public without questioning their safety.
She said it was a difficult sentencing exercise when an offender had a serious mental illness that impacts their conduct in the community.
"I accept his moral culpability is reduced in relation to all of the offences," she said.
However, she said she agreed with the prosecution that Puia's mental health status "gives more significance for the need to protect the community".
For the indecent acts, Ms Taylor sentenced Puia to five months' jail, incorporating his 71 days of pre-sentence custody.
The term was suspended immediately and he was placed on a 12-month good behaviour order that included treatment and counselling.
He was also placed on good behaviour orders for the two driving offences.
