Shopkeeper jailed for groping young girl
A shopkeeper groped a young girl in his convenience store before offering her chocolate.
Daljinder Singh touched the child on her chest as he handed her change at his off-licence on Springfield Road, Wolverhampton, last October.
The 38-year-old from Braden Road, Penn, then moved around the counter and put his arm around the victim before groping her and then offering her chocolate.
The incident was captured on CCTV footage that was played before Wolverhampton Crown Court, which also heard that after the girl raised the alarm on the day of the incident she also said Singh had touched her beneath her blouse in the same shop two years earlier.
It was also alleged that last September he pulled over his car and asked the victim if he could take a photograph of her.
The shopkeeper, who has three previous convictions for violent, albeit non-sexual, attacks on customers in his shop admitted two charges of sexual assault on a female and has now been jailed.
Judge John Wait told the court that the girl now suffers anxiety at the prospect of going into shops alone.
He sentenced Singh to 15 months for both counts to be served consecutively stating the punishment would have been more if he had not have pleaded guilty.
The judge also said his previous convictions were a factor adding: “The first offence, is aggravated by the youth of the victim. On your previous offending while of a different character is within the shop and must be regarded as aggravating.”
Singh will serve up to half of his sentence behind bars and then 12 months under licence and supervision.
He will also be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for ten years.
Defence barrister Gurdeep Garcha said: “He wishes to apologise for his conduct and he recognises it was utterly wrong. He is profoundly sorry.”
He added: “The consequences of his stupidity are life-changing. He stands on the cusp of a custodial sentence and on the cusp of a failed marriage.
“He has had to reconcile with his wife and children about what he has done and he will have to live with the shame of the offending he’s committed. This sort of offence carries a real stigma.
“He has let all of his loved ones down and that causes him significant pain.”
Singh has previously been convicted for assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an incident in his shop in June 2004.
Two years later he was charged with assaulting a female customer and last year struck a women in the face with a bottle, again in his shop.
