” I moved away. He was just smiling”
Sex offender Joseph Toft(Image: Hull Live)
A drunken pensioner sexually assaulted a shocked young girl after deliberately targeting her during a “scary” encounter – and he told her: “Oh, I like that!” Joseph Toft “literally just grabbed” the girl and he repeatedly touched her intimately before starting to smile about what he was doing.
He later tried to pretend that it was all just a “drunken episode” that was in no way sexual, Hull Crown Court heard. Toft, 74, of Maybury Avenue, off Holderness Road, east Hull, denied an offence of sexual assault on July 30, 2022 but he was convicted by a jury after a trial that finished on February 26.
The girl claimed during her evidence that Toft “literally just grabbed” her for “about a minute or two” and intimately touched her. She told him: “Don’t. Don’t do that.” He stopped but then touched her in another place.
“He just went up to me with his hand and squeezed,” she claimed. “He said: ‘Oh, I like that!’. It was just a bit of a shock he was doing that. He touched my thigh and started moving his hand up.
“I didn’t want him to obviously do what he was doing. I just felt real weird. I was like a bit scared. I moved away. He was just smiling. He was looking where his hand was going.
“It was a bit scary. He said: ‘I was just joking’. I was thinking: ”What’s he doing?’.” The girl claimed that Toft touched her again.
She said that she told her mother what Toft had done. “She was really shocked at what happened,” said the girl. “She looked at me real shocked.”
Toft was heavily in drink at the time and he later claimed that he had no memory of the incident. The matter was reported to the police.
The girl later said that Toft’s actions had affected and changed her life. “I used to be a very confident person but I have lost a lot of confidence in myself since what happened to me,” she said.
“Little things can set me off. Now I find it hard to trust people. Sometimes, I don’t want to get out of bed. It was a lot for me to go to the police station.”
The court heard that Toft had some previous convictions but nothing since September 1993. There were no previous sexual offences on his record.
Julia Baggs, mitigating, said that there were 10 references for Toft and he was described in them as respected, dependable, loving, caring, kind, loyal and welcoming. He was a widower after his wife died 18 months before the incident.
As a result of that, his drinking increased and there were times when he lost his memory. He had ongoing health problems, had limited previous convictions and he was a low risk of reconviction.
Judge Tahir Khan KC said that the defence claimed that it was “drunken” and “misplaced” behaviour by Toft towards the girl. “The defence say that this is a drunken episode with no sexual aspect to it,” said Judge Khan.
But the jury had decided that it was “unambiguous sexual” behaviour and that the touching of the girl was deliberate. “The jury have convicted you of this offence of sexual assault,” said Judge Khan.
“You got yourself drunk. You say you had no memory of the incident but you also say in your account that she would have no reason to lie.
“It’s clear to me that the offence you committed against her had a marked effect upon her. The offence was committed while you were in drink.”
Toft was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and 20 days’ rehabilitation. He was given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and he must register as a sex offender for 10 years. He was given a 10-year restraining order.
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