A Ballarat Uber driver who kissed and inappropriately touched an intoxicated teenager on a dark rural road as he drove her home last year has pleaded guilty to the offence.
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Santherathas Navaratnam faced the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Friday, charged with sexually assaulting the teenager.
Magistrate Ron Saines told Navaratnam he would consider imposing a non-custodial sentence if he entered a guilty plea, during a sentence indication hearing in March.
During the March hearing, the court heard the complainant had consumed a large amount of alcohol, and had vomited, before her friend called an Uber to take her home from Ballarat's Bluestone nightclub.
Navaratnam picked up the complainant to drive her home and at one point pulled over near Scotsburn, where he kissed her, sucked and bit her lip and kissed and touched her breasts.
The 19-year-old felt scared and ran across paddocks to get to her home.
Defence barrister Graeme Davis said Navaratnam was on an indefinite Temporary Protection Visa and had lived in Australia since 2012 after fleeing from Sri Lanka.
He said Navaratnam lived in Werribee and had worked for five years at a chicken processing facility in Laverton.
Mr Davis said Navaratnam's wife and children remained in Sri Lanka - he had not seen them for a long time - and proof of these charges would cause great difficulty for any future attempts to change his visa status.
Mr Saines ordered Navaratnam be assessed for suitability for a community corrections order.
Navaratnam will be sentenced as a man with no prior convictions when he returns to court on May 25.
A Tamil interpreter will be required at court to translate the sentencing hearing.
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