An ex-hotel manager at the Alpine Hotel supplied a teen with alcohol before sexually assaulting her, the County Court has heard.
35-year-old James Stewart pleaded guilty in the County Court to an additional charge of supplying liquor to a minor, sexual penetration of a child and common assault.
Husband and father Mr Stewart appeared at a plea hearing on 16 December where the victim impact statement was read to the court.
“This didn’t just affect my life, it changed everything about me,” the victim said in her impact statement.
“I could spend hours speaking about the emotional, physical and financial pain this has caused.”
Court documents show Mr Stewart invited a 17-year-old to his room in the early morning of 26 November 2023, where he prepared alcoholic beverages and asked her to sit next to him.
The 17-year-old told Mr Stewart, “I don’t want to do this” and he replied, “You’ll let me do this”.
The victim impact statement detailed how the 17-year-old’s mental health has declined severely since the crime.
“I couldn’t get any sleep without seeing him in my nightmares,” the victim’s impact statement read.
Alpine Hotel owner Rachael Northwood described Mr Stewart prior to the offending as “my number one guy in the business and the most senior person”.
She confirmed he was dismissed the day after the offending.
The victim’s impact statement included references to the 17-year-old’s history which wasn’t available during the initial sentence indication hearing
Judge Paul Higham said the nature of this additional information could potentially be an “aggravating factor” to the hearing.
“[James Stewart] particularly knew of a traumatic past, it certainly aggravates moral culpability,” Judge Higham said.
Forensic psychologist Pamela Matthews assessed Mr Stewart and claimed he reached criteria for a formal diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.
Her conclusion was based on Mr Stewart’s results from two personality tests and her “intuition”, as he had come across as “quite odd” during her assessment.
But the test results revealed Mr Stewart’s personality traits fell well below the clinically significant threshold for borderline personality disorder.
Mr Stewart will reappear in court for a directions hearing on 19 February.
