A convicted sex offender who exposed his penis on a train to Maitland said he removed his pants because a post-op leg splint was causing him discomfort.
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The man’s solicitor told Maitland Local Court his client loosened his belt to ease some of the pressure as he sat down but fell asleep without realising he was not wearing underwear.
“It was reckless on his part that he didn’t have underwear on,” the man’s solicitor said. “The rocking motion of the train with the amount of alcohol he had drunk, he fell asleep.”
The man’s guilty plea to wilful and obscene exposure came on the day he was to defend the charge in a hearing.
His solicitor said the reason for the late plea was a dispute over whether the man wilfully committed the act.
“So what you’re saying is this offence doesn’t have any sexual flavour to it?” magistrate Sharron Crews asked.
“Yes,” the man’s solicitor replied.
Court documents said police were called to the train shortly before 8.30pm on November 17 after a man had undone his belt and pushed his jeans down and exposed his penis.
Police said the man, 47, was highly intoxicated and was carrying six litres of wine with him on the train.
The man was jailed for 18 months for acts of indecency in 1990.
The court heard this most recent offence puts him in breach of a suspended sentence he was given for contravening an apprehended violence order last year. The man will be sentenced on June 5.
