A SENIOR Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraftsman has avoided jail after sexually assaulting a woman at a Witney bar.

Joseph Tuitoga, of RAF Brize Norton, near Carterton, was found guilty after a trial at Oxford Crown Court charged of one count of sexual assault.

The 28-year-old sexually assaulted a woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on August 9, 2022 in Witney town centre after meeting her in a snooker bar.

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In a separate trial, he was found not guilty one count of sexual assault and one count of assault by penetration against the same woman.

He was sentenced at the same court on Tuesday (August 20) by Judge Michael Gledhill, who was sitting in retirement.

Handing him a 10-month community order, Judge Gledhill said: “Your behaviour was appalling, you do not behave in that way, this is a serious matter.”

During the proceedings, it was heard that Tuitoga had been drinking on the RAF base with colleagues before they headed to the snooker bar.

It was here he met the woman and her friends and had been ‘engaged in conversation for about two hours.

While at the bar, he then touched the woman’s bottom over her clothing.

The prosecuting barrister said: “It’s clear and accepted by Mr Tuitoga that he liked [the woman]. He was quite intoxicated.

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“It was simply to display his emotions towards her.”

Defending Tuitoga, who is still serving in the RAF, his barrister said the offence was born out of ‘intoxication and immaturity’.

She said: “He committed this offence while under the influence of alcohol which he made plain and clear in his interview with police after his arrested.

“He has taken steps to address his offending behaviour. He has only drank alcohol on two occasions in the last 12 months – Christmas and the Euros finals – other than that he doesn’t drink alcohol.

“He has understood what caused him to commit this offence. He is remorseful and is ashamed by his actions and has not even told his family as that was not the way he was brought up.

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“He’s also aware of the harm he caused [her] as he heard her evidence during the trial.”

Tuitoga’s barrister asked that he was not put on the sex offenders register as that would mean a mandatory discharge from his job at the RAF.

Judge Gledhill ordered the aircraftsman to complete up to 35 rehabilitation activity days and pay £500 in court costs in the next two months.