An Oxford University student accused of pawing a woman while on an acid trip was cleared of sexual assault.

But jurors convicted Alexander Cartwright of an alternative charge of common assault, finding that the now 20-year-old had pushed the woman during the end-of-Freshers’ Week ordeal.

Sentencing him on Monday, Judge Michael Gledhill QC described the case as a ‘tragedy’ and said Cartwright had done something ‘he never planned to do, all to do with drink’.

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During the trial at Oxford Crown Court last week, jurors heard that Keble College student Cartwright had taken LSD in a fellow student’s room after bingeing on alcohol at the end of Freshers’ Week in October 2020.

He was said to have pulled down his trousers then, later, become fixated about the topic of love. He began banging on female students’ doors. He told one, a woman of south Asian heritage, about wanting to see her ‘brown rice cakes’. Another woman was reduced to tears by his refusal to leave her alone.

Later, he was said to have put his hand on another female student’s breast and said ‘let’s just do it’ then followed her into her bedroom and pushed her towards the bed.

The college porter was called. Cartwright called the man, who is black, ‘Nelson Mandela’ and ‘Morgan Freeman’ before asking: “Why do all black men look the same?” The defendant also damaged a fire extinguisher before he was arrested by the police.

The question for the jury was whether the student intended to commit the crimes alleged.

Cartwright himself told the police he had barely any memory of the incident. A drugs expert, Prof David Taylor, said that it was not unusual for those taking alcohol and LSD to act ‘in a bizarre, aggressive and offensive manner and for them to commit criminal acts of which they have no memory and for which they can provide no explanation’.

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The jury found Cartwright, of Onlsow Road, Richmond-upon-Thames, not guilty of sexual assault or racially-aggravated threatening behaviour but guilty of criminal damage and a lesser charge of common assault. They could not reach a verdict on one of the public order charges.

Mitigating, Heather Stangoe said her client was remorseful and had spent the past months volunteering at a Buddhist centre, a yoga centre and a local foodbank.

Imposing a two year community order with 100 hours of unpaid work and fining him £500, Judge Gledhill said the message had to go out from the court that young men ‘cannot do what they want when they decide to consume alcohol and controlled drugs’.

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