Alexander Ferguson was sentenced yesterday. Photo / Rob Kidd
Alexander Ferguson was sentenced yesterday. Photo / Rob Kidd
A man caught in a stranger's home, standing over a sleeping woman with his pants down says there was no sexual motive behind his crime.
Alexander James Ferguson's denials in the lead-up to yesterday's Dunedin District Court sentencing were "ludicrous" and meant home detention was inappropriate, Judge Michael Turner said.
The 38-year-old was jailed for four months on convictions for indecent exposure and unlawfully being in a building.
Ferguson had been drinking with friends at a pub before walking to his Dunedin home, the court heard.
As he wandered along his street, the man spotted a woman asleep in a bedroom.
Ferguson was "roughed up" before police arrived to arrest him, Crown prosecutor Chris Bernhardt said.
The victim, who only woke up when her partner was restraining the defendant, was so traumatised by the experience she had to be medicated for panic attacks and given sedatives so she could sleep.
She feared bumping into the man in the street and changed her hair colour so she would not be recognised, the court heard.
Ultimately, the family moved house to avoid reminders of the ordeal.
Alexander Ferguson had been convicted of sex offences in 2003 and 2011. Photo / Rob Kidd
When Ferguson was interviewed by Probation he said he could not remember the entire incident because of his intoxication.
He claimed to be the victim in the matter, said the woman's husband had invited him into the house and stressed there had been no exposure of his genitals.
"That's patently untrue," Judge Turner said.
"There is no possible explanation for your behaviour other than it being sexually motivated."
The judge noted Ferguson had committed other sex offences in 2003 and 2011.
A computer-based assessment of sexual recidivism put him in the highest risk category, the court heard.
