Perverted geek faces jail for office party grope

A drunken IT worker who groped a paralegal at their City law firm’s office party is behind bars.

Varun Krishnakumar, 30, followed the 26-year-old blonde woman into the ladies’ toilets after taking advantage of the free bar.

He then tried to force his ‘terrified’ victim into a cubicle before pulling up her black, knee-length, pencil dress and yanking her tights down.

Married Krishnakumar ‘nuzzled’ his face into her neck as she desperately tried to fight him off.

But her cries of ‘help’ went unanswered until a trainee solicitor heard the struggle and came to the rescue.

Krishnakumar claimed he had mistakenly stumbled into the women’s lavatory to splash his face with water in an attempt to sober up.

But he put his head in his hands as an Old Bailey jury took just over an hour to find him guilty of sexual assault on the night of 3 December last year.

His wife, an EU citizen, sobbed in the public gallery as Judge Nicholas Cooke QC said it was a matter for the Home Secretary whether Krishnakumar, from India, would be granted leave to remain.

Remanding him in custody until he is sentenced on 4 August, the judge said: ‘He has been convicted of a disturbing offence significantly aggravated by the circumstances and the consequences have been significant.’

The court heard his victim has since quit her job and the judge told Krishnakumar: ‘You have been convicted of a serious offending. I realise it is a tragedy for you and still more for your tearful wife.’

He added: ‘A prison sentence is extremely likely and you should brace yourself for that.’

The victim, who cannot be named, was left ‘shocked, panicky and crying’ following the attack in a central London office block, said prosecutor Valeria Smith told jurors.

Giving evidence, the woman said she had earlier refused Krishnakumar’s request to take a ‘selfie’ together when he introduced himself at the solicitors’ company’s Christmas bash.

She told jurors she had arrived at the party on a floor reserved for functions at around 7pm.

She had been enjoying the free bar and hog roast buffet as she chatted with friends but said she did not feel drunk after sinking four bottles of Camden Hells lager.

‘It was relatively early on, about 7.30pm, before the food and I was stood with a couple of colleagues talking amongst ourselves in the main area, not far from the bar when he came up to me,’ she said.

‘He went to shake my hand and introduced himself. I had never seen him before.’

The woman said they introduced themselves to each other and chatted briefly.

‘He asked me if we could get a selfie together, which I said no to because it was a bit weird with someone I have just met,’ she continued.

‘I did see him several times throughout the evening. Some of my friends did comment on him a few times.

‘He was just staring, just at me. I just ignored it to be honest.’

She said she ‘felt uncomfortable’ but not ‘unsafe’ and left her friends to use the toilet at about 9pm.

The woman told how she noticed someone was behind her when she went to use the ladies but went straight into a cubicle before coming out to wash her hands.

‘The door opened and I could see in the mirror the guy from earlier pop his head in and he seemed to hesitate,’she told jurors, giving evidence from behind a screen.

‘I said, “this is the girls toilets”, because I presumed he had wandered in by accident thinking it was the men’s.

‘He started walking towards me and just said, “it’s fine, don’t worry about it”.

‘I was still washing my hands at this point. He came up behind me and grabbed me from behind and managed to pick me up and spun me around, and tried to put me in the cubicle.’

The victim explained how she managed to brace herself on the surroundings of the cubicle door so Krishnakumar could not force her inside.

She said that in the course of a terrifying struggle her attacker managed to hoist up her dress to her ribs and pull one side of her tights down to her thigh.

He was also ‘nuzzling’ or ‘burrowing’ his face into her neck as she desperately tried to fight him off, the court heard.

‘All I could think was, “I can’t be this girl, I can’t let this happen to me”.

‘I’m not the strongest girl but I was doing everything I could to try and stave him off.’

The woman said she could feel herself losing the battle when she heard a male voice outside before a trainee solicitor came into the toilet.

The court heard Krishnakumar ran off but was identified by the alleged victim when police arrived shortly after.

In a prepared statement after he was arrested on 3 December last year, Krishnakumar claimed he had gone into the ladies’ toilets by mistake because he was ‘tipsy’.

He said the woman inside shouted at him and he immediately left when he realised his boozy blunder.

‘I have not had any physical contact with her. I would not want to do this in my work place,’ said Krishnakumar giving evidence in court.

‘I’m here in this county because of my work. I wouldn’t want to mess up in my work place. I wouldn’t do that.’

Krishnakumar, of (36) Coleman Road, Dagenham, Essex, was convicted of a single count of sexual assault on 3 December last year and remanded in custody until sentence on 4 August.