A barman who sexually assaulted a sleeping woman at a party has been jailed for 15 months.
First offender Andries Van Der Schyff was led away to the cells at Inverness Sheriff Court still protesting his innocence.
A jury found him guilty of groping the 21-year-old – who had been drinking – after a two-day trial.
Van Der Schyff had entered a special defence, claiming the young woman had consented to sexual activity.
The 33-year-old, of 18 King Street, Inverness, who was known as “Andy Velvet”, was also placed on the sex offenders register.
Sheriff David Sutherland told him yesterday: “You have been found guilty of a serious sexual assault on a young lady who was incapable of giving or withholding her consent.
“I take into account you are a first offender and the content of the background reports.
“However, this is a serious offence and it can only be dealt with by a prison sentence. It may be that your inhibitions were loosened by alcohol, but young ladies have to be protected.”
Van Der Schyff’s agent, solicitor Neil Wilson, had urged the sheriff to impose a community-based sentence, but added: “My client is prepared for the worst. He still does not accept the jury’s verdict, as he is entitled to do.
“The reports show that he is assessed as a low risk of re-offending and the sex offenders programme assessment sees no reason for him to be on the programme.”
Following a two-day trial in May Van Der Schyff was found guilty of sexually assaulting the woman, when she was incapable of giving or withholding consent.
The victim told the court she woke in a flat in the Highland capital’s Tomnahurich Street on December 3, 2012, to find a man she “barely knew” removing her underwear.
She said she had fallen asleep on a sofa bed with another woman after a night out drinking with staff from city centre bars Johnny Foxes and The Den, where Van Der Schyff worked.
She told the court the other woman wasn’t there when she woke and added: “I don’t really remember anything from the party being in full swing until waking up.”
She said the first thing she was aware of was Van Der Schyff removing her trousers and underwear.
She said he then touched her “with his hands” inappropriately, which went on for a minute before she made an excuse to leave.
The woman then called a colleague to collect her before contacting her mother and telling her what happened.
Her mother informed the police several hours later.
Mr Wilson asked: “Is it possible you were drunk and in your drunken state you did a foolish thing which you were ashamed of almost immediately?”
She said: “No.”
The woman also denied taking off her own clothes or that she had consented to contact with Van Der Schyff.
The jury heard the transcript of Van Der Schyff’s recorded police interview in which he claimed the woman removed her own trousers and underwear and consented to sexual activity with him before kissing him and leaving.
He denied that she had told him to stop.
He told police they had never shown much interest in each other before that night and that it had happened “on the spur of the moment”.
He added: “Obviously, now I regret it and it shouldn’t have happened but it did happen and I’ve nothing to be ashamed of. I did nothing wrong. I didn’t force anything on her.”
He also told the police he was “not angry with her” and would “forgive her” if he saw her.
