A CHARD man who committed a sexual offence on a young “vulnerable” woman after she spurned his amorous advances, and threw a chair inside a café which hit a woman on the arm, has been sent to prison for a total of 26 weeks.

Carlos Sanches approached the victim in Chard town centre, grabbed her arm and pushed her against a wall before trying to kiss her.

She managed to get away but CCTV images showed the defendant running after her before picking her up with both his hands on her breasts.

In the other incident the defendant had been drinking heavily and became irate when the café owner refused to serve him.

He picked up a chair and threw it across the premises at A&J’s Frozen where it struck a woman.

The court heard she was left with ligament damage which was treated in hospital.

When the police later arrested him from his home address they found a bag of cannabis which he claimed he thought was legal to smoke in this country, Somerset Magistrates were told.

The 36-year-old defendant, of Holyrood Street, pleaded guilty that on January 22 at Chard he intentionally touched a woman aged 16 or over, and it was sexual when she did not consent.

He also admitted being in possession of 2.9g of cannabis resin (class B) at Chard on December 19 last year.

As well as that, Sanches was found guilty following a trial of assaulting Manuela Barros by beating her on the same date.

Following the sexual assault, Sanches was interviewed by police he accepted it was him on the CCTV and made no comment to all questions asked of him.

The court was told that the victim had mental health issues, learning difficulties and was deemed a “vulnerable” person.

In a victim statement read to the court she said she had trouble sleeping at night and felt scared if she went to Chard High Street.

On December 19 last year the defendant was in A&J’s Frozen Café at 8pm when staff said they were not going to serve him because he was possibly intoxicated through drink and drugs.

“Sanches then picked up a chair and threw it across the room and it hit the complainant’s arm causing reddening and bruising,” said Suzie Butler, prosecuting.

Sanchez also confirmed the drug seized was “hash” saying he had bought it and didn’t realise it was illegal to smoke the drug at home and had paid £10 for it.

They also ordered Sanches to pay £250 compensation to the victim of the sexual offence along with £775 costs and a £115 victim surcharge.

He was also ordered to sign onto the Sex Offenders Register within three days of his release from prison.

A 12 month restraining order was also imposed with a requirement for Sanches not to contact the victim directly or indirectly.