A MAN has appeared in court charged with a violent sexual assault.
John Smith, 54, is alleged to have exposed himself to a woman on June 4 this year.
He is also alleged to have punched her three or four times to the face and tried to grab her round the throat in the same incident.
Smith is also alleged to have grabbed at the back of her trousers and exposed her buttock.
He was not asked to enter a plea to the charges of sexual assault and common assault when he appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court.
Smith lives in Boxted Road, Colchester, at a facility designed to look after people with mental health issues.
Magistrates declined jurisdiction over the case.
He will next appear at Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday, December 19.
Smith was given unconditional bail.
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