A MUM threw away her bed after she was molested by a pal who she feared would rape her as her four-year-old son slept in the room next door.

The sexual assault victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, repeatedly told the Gary Kidd that she did not want to kiss him.

Kidd, 32, who is known to his victim, refused to take no for an answer – following the woman to her bedroom and attempting to reach into her pyjama bottoms. The incident left her so scarred that she binned her bed, rearranged furniture in her bedroom and had bagged up her bedding.

Sentencing Kidd to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years, Judge Jason Taylor QC yesterday told the defendant it was a close call whether to send him straight into custody.

“This was a frightening and serious offence which is still having an ongoing and psychological impact,” Judge Taylor said.

Ellen McAnaw, prosecuting, said Kidd had sunk eight cans of alcohol and a two-litre bottle of cider when he peppered his victim with texts asking to come over to her home.

She eventually relented. When Kidd turned up at the door of her first floor flat she could smell the booze on him.

Kidd, who was in a relationship at the time, followed her into the flat, grabbed her head and attempted to kiss her.

“She said ‘no, just stop’, making it very clear she did not want to engage in that sort of activity with him,” Ms McAnaw said.

She went into the bedroom in an attempt to get away. Kidd followed her again, straddling her on the bed and fumbling with her pyjama bottoms.

Fearing she would be raped, the woman was said to have mustered all her strength to push Kidd off her. Eventually, she managed to get her tormentor to leave the flat. He sent a text message later, saying “she wanted it as much as he did”.

In a victim personal statement read out in court, the woman said she had got rid of her bed immediately after the assault: “Seeing the bed kept bringing back memories of what had happened to me.” She spent five weeks sleeping on the sofa.

Kidd, of Westwood Road, Penhill, pleaded guilty to a count of sexual touching. Chris Smyth, defending, said his client had reduced his alcohol consumption, was in a stable relationship and acted as a carer to his mother and a nephew.

Mr Smyth added that his client expressed regret about what had taken place.

Sentencing Kidd, Judge Taylor said: “It’s clear to me your actions had a serious impact upon her. She rearranged her bedroom, got rid of her bed and bagged up her bedding and pyjamas.

“It seems to me, as I said to your counsel, there is real psychological harm here.”

Under the requirements of his suspended sentence, Kidd will have to complete 24 rehabilitation days and a course aimed at rehabilitating sex offenders. He will be placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and be subject to a five-year restraining order.

“I make it plain I have suspended this sentence principally because of the prospect of rehabilitation which must be in the public interest as well as your interest,” Judge Taylor added.