Man looked up woman's skirt in Poole Tesco store

Michal Ireneusz Kowalski was found guilty of committing an act outraging public decency at the Tower Park Tesco store last summer.

The 38-year-old, described as a “menace to woman”, denied looking up the woman’s skirt, despite being caught on CCTV, instead claiming he bent down to pick up a £20 note.

READ MORE: Man found guilty of looking up woman's skirt in Poole Tesco

This was a change to the account he gave police, where he claimed he squatted down to relieve pain caused by internal haemorrhoids.

CCTV also caught Kowalski looking up another woman’s skirt just moments after the first incident.

Judge Robert Pawson described his account as “nonsense” and sentenced Kowalski, of Aspen Gardens, Poole, to eight months imprisonment suspended for two years.

The judge said this would give the defendant the opportunity to complete a sex offenders programme he wouldn’t be eligible for in custody.

Judge Pawson said: “You went to Tesco where you were seen looking up the skirt of a mother, a single woman with her daughter, when CCTV was looked at, she was not the only victim that day.

“It was clearly relevant evidence which was heard by the jury. I have no doubt that you planned this offence.

“From all the evidence, you had one aim – to obtain some form of sexual gratification.

“The suggestion of remorse I take with a pinch of salt, you maintain there was no sexual motivation, you have not shown any insight.

“You were shocked by the reading of the victim statement, believing your actions were harmless.”

The jury, which deliberated for less than three hours before reaching their verdict on Friday, June 17, had earlier been told during the prosecution’s case that the complainant was alerted to the defendant’s actions by her young daughter.

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Prosecutor Ryan Murray presented CCTV evidence to the court which showed Kowalski’s behaviour in the store on the afternoon of the incident in July 2021.

The footage showed the defendant go around a retail module before going low down to the ground as the woman was bending over to look at something on the shelf in front of her.

The complainant told the jury she was “very upset” and panicking after the incident.

She called her parents for help, and they rushed to the store to support her.

Her mother told the court her daughter had never contacted her before sounding so scared.

Mitigating, Philomena Murphy said a suspended sentence was a “window of opportunity to prevent Kowalski from coming back to these courts”.

The defendant had two previous convictions, sexual assault on a female in 2013 and an act outraging public decency in 2011.

Judge Pawson ordered Kowalski completed the sex offender’s treatment programme, carry out 10 rehabilitation requirement days, 100 hours of unpaid work and pay £3,000 in costs.