A Yarrawonga man has been placed on the sex offenders registry and sentenced to 120 hours of community work for inappropriately touching a girl.

The 27-year-old appeared at Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court on Monday to plead guilty to the incident involving a 12-year-old.

The court heard on the night of 4 September 2022 the man had been drinking with the victim’s mother.

The accused had known the victim for almost half of her life and was like a father figure to her.

In the early hours of 5 September, the 12-year-old victim was asleep in her room when the accused entered and began moving his hand up towards the girl’s thigh.

The girl was awakened by the man’s cold hands and he ran away.

He came back a short time later and the girl was still awake.

The accused told the girl he wanted to check if she had a phone, which didn’t make sense to her.

The girl told her mum about the incident the following morning and she confronted the man and told him to leave.

It was reported to police later that morning.

The court heard two pretext calls were made to the accused by the 12-year-old where they discussed the incident and the accused made an apology.

He was arrested on 10 September when he told police he had no memory of going into her room, but said if the girl said it had occurred, then it must have happened.

“She wouldn’t lie about this,” he said to police.

Defence counsel Nadia David said her client was incredibly intoxicated and couldn’t remember what happened, but said he had never denied the incident.

Ms David said her client had a limited criminal history and admitted to having an alcohol addiction.

Magistrate Peter Dunn placed the man on an 18-month community corrections order which would include 120 hours of community work.

He was also placed on the sex offenders registry list for eight years.

“You know what the issue was here and that’s alcohol, so you know what the solution is,” Magistrate Dunn said.