Man Sentenced to Jail for Sexual Assault of Teenager at Christmas Party

An individual has been incarcerated for a period of four months following his sexual assault of a 16-year-old female at a Christmas celebration, an act a judge characterized as “outright human betrayal”. Human Bhargava, aged 44, residing in Birch Hill, Londonderry, confessed to three sexual offences stemming from December 2022 during his court appearance at Bishop Street courthouse in the city on Friday. Earlier that evening, Bhargava and the victim, then 16 years old, had engaged in conversation, and she stated that he had put his hands on her chest. Subsequently, while on the dancefloor, he seized her from behind and once more made inappropriate contact. The female later recounted the events to a male acquaintance, labeling the experience as “weird”. Testimony presented to the court indicated that Bhargava pursued her outdoors and placed his hand beneath her top, subsequently approaching her once more as she awaited a taxi and requested her to dance. Stephen Mooney, the defence barrister, articulated that offenders fall into two classifications: “people who are bad” and “good people who have done something very bad”, characterizing this particular occurrence as belonging to the second group. He stated that Bhargava possessed no prior criminal record and had “never been in trouble in his life”, yet had developed a pattern of alcohol consumption that contributed to the transgressions. Mooney characterized him as “remorseful” and asserted that his recollection of the event was “non-existent”. District Judge Barney McElhom noted that Bhargava had only entered a guilty plea on the morning the trial was scheduled to commence. The judge remarked that the victim would, consequently, have presumed until this point that she would be required to testify in court, along with all the associated stress. McElhom labeled the victim impact statement as a “very disturbing document” and declared that the maximum penalty of six months was “wholly inadequate”. Bhargava received a sentence of four months in custody, was placed on the sex offenders’ register for seven years, and was mandated to pay the victim £1,000 as compensation. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the material found on external websites. Information regarding our policy on external linking is available.