A WELL-KNOWN Amman Valley man who sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl in a tanning salon has avoided being sent to jail.
Judge Patrick Thomas said the biggest punishment for 39-year-old rugby captain Glyndwr Thomas was his shame in the local community.
Sentencing the defendant at Swansea Crown Court, Judge Thomas said: “You have been convicted by a jury — rightly in my view — of a sexual assault on a 15-year-old girl.
“You are of some standing in the valley. You are captain of the village team and a hard-working man.
“You will be known in your community as a convicted sex offender with an underage girl and this is something which will stain your reputation forever.”
Thomas is a long-distance lorry driver from Parc Glanffrwd, Garnant.
He has always denied the charge of sexual assault, but was found guilty by a jury earlier this month.
The court heard that on June 7 last year at Easy Tan in College Street, Ammanford, Thomas followed the 15-year-old into a cubicle while she was undressed.
He reached as if to press a button but in the process touched her private parts.
Judge Thomas said: “I cannot be sure there was pre-planning of more than a minute or so, but there is no doubt in my mind you failed to control yourself.
“You have shown no remorse for what you did.”
The judge added that in denying the charge Thomas had forced his victim to go through the ordeal again.
“You made that girl relive her experience in front of strangers in a court room — this adds to your shame.”
Thomas was given a three-year community order with a sex offenders’ course. He will be on the sex offenders’ register for five years and cannot have unsupervised contact with under-16s without the parents’ consent and knowledge of his conviction.
The judge said: “If I did send you to prison, you would be out within a few weeks and your problem — and it is a problem — would be untreated. It is in your and society’s best interests to follow the guidelines in the pre-sentence report.
