A MAN who sexually assaulted a child on a log flume ride has avoided jail.
Daniel Peters has been handed a suspended prison sentence after admitting to two counts of sexual assault of a girl under the age of 13.
The 35-year-old's actions caused the victim to lose her hair, left her struggling to sleep and resulted in her running away from home.
Reading a statement on her behalf, Nicholas Williams, prosecuting, said: “I would argue with my parents and lose my temper because of how I was feeling inside.
“I felt I couldn’t talk to anyone or tell anyone. It caused me immense stress.
“I was terrified to go out.”
The first incident occurred in May 2020 when Peters was giving the victim, who was 10 years old, a lift to his then house in Northwich for a sleepover with his daughter.
He pulled over in a ‘secluded’ layby on Cinder Hill and got out of the car, going over to the passenger side door where he proceeded to place his hand on the victim’s thigh for around five minutes.
Later that month, at Gulliver’s World theme park in Warrington, Peters went on a log flume ride with the victim and her friend, despite the two girls suggesting they go on alone.
While on the ride Peters ‘squished’ the girl’s breasts.
In 2021, the victim began losing her hair and at one point wrote a letter to her parents in which she mentioned taking her own life.
Then, in March 2023, she ran away from home.
When she was found, she reported the incidents with Peters to Cheshire Police.
He was arrested soon after and pleaded guilty at Chester Crown Court on May 14, returning to the court on Friday (July 19) for sentencing.
Defending, Robert Dudley said his client has completed 12 therapy sessions in the last month or so and has already paid for the next ten.
“He is a man who knows he has an issue and is taking active steps to address that,” Mr Dudley added.
Taking this into account, as well as Peters’ early guilty plea and lack of previous convictions, Recorder Anthony O’Donohoe sentenced him to 24 months in prison suspended for two years.
Peters, now of Hermitage Street in Rishton, must also complete 180 hours of unpaid work, 35 days of rehabilitation activity, and a Horizon-accredited programme.
He is also subject to an indefinite restraining order and sexual harm prevention order.
Sentencing, Recorder Anthony O'Donohoe said: “The impact of your wrongdoing has been profound and the ripples from that impact have travelled very far and very deep.
“You have lost a good deal – your relationship, home and employment. The fault lies at your feet and no one else’s.
“By the narrowest of margins I am placing this case in a way where it can be suspended.
“I have reason to believe that you can be rehabilitated.”
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