Hani Halawa, of Hauteville, St Peter Port, admitted touching the woman in a sexual manner.
The Magistrate’s Court was told how the parties had been in Amigos at the North Plantation at about 11pm one night.
They did not know each other. The defendant was sitting at a table with another person.
When the woman went to collect her coat from a nearby hanger he grabbed her bottom through her clothing.
She slapped his hand away and when she challenged him about what he had done he did not react, and neither did the person with him.
The woman reported the matter to the manager but by the time he went in to the bar the defendant had gone.
Attempts were made to identify the defendant.
About a month later, while the woman was at the airport, she saw the defendant waiting to board a flight with the same person she had seen in the bar.
When he was arrested later he denied being involved in the incident in the bar, and still denied it when shown CCTV footage.
In a victim impact statement the woman said she now felt more anxious and stressed when going out at night.
She had considered the island a safe place, and thanked the police for their support.
Halawa had no previous convictions.
Defending, Advocate Oliver Fattorini said Halawa, who had no previous convictions, had been new to court proceedings hence his original denial but he was now remorseful and wished to apologise. He would lose his job as a result of his offending and his family relied on him for money.
Judge Gary Perry said he noted that the defendant’s employer had said that he was a hard worker.
‘But the court has to deal with these type offences on a depressingly regular basis,’ he said.
‘Time and again the court has sent people to prison yet people like you still treat women as your possessions.
‘As far as the court is concerned this a totally unacceptable way to behave.
That is not said or done for political correctness, but on basic common decency that one human being should display towards another.’
The victim impact statement ‘painted an all-too-familiar picture’, he said, and a custodial sentence was inevitable in such cases.
