A Melbourne roller derby player who sexually assaulted three women in a hot tub at a wild Christmas party has avoided a stint in jail.
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Jennifer Peterson, 31, overstepped the boundaries in circumstances of "gross intoxication" at a party described as a "highly sexualised environment saturated with alcohol".
Peterson admitted touching her victims' genitals without consent at the December 2016 event.
She was convicted on Tuesday and handed a two-year community corrections order, including 200 hours of unpaid work and a requirement she attend treatment and rehabilitation for alcohol and mental health issues.
But Peterson was permitted to walk from the County Court of Victoria after pleading guilty last week to three charges of sexual assault against three women aged 34, 27 and 22.
Judge Gavan Meredith said Peterson had straddled her first two victims in the spa and grabbed them and a third woman by the vagina while in the tub.
One victim said Peterson's hands were "all over" her in the spa, while another woke the following day with a hangover to find bite marks on her chest, stomach and neck.
Peterson sent text messages saying she was drunk, the end of the night was "super hazy" and that she wished she could remember who she'd "pashed".
Peterson started binge-drinking in her 20s to deal with social anxiety and joined a roller derby league when she felt lonely and rejected after a romantic relationship ended.
Her lawyer previously argued Peterson should not have a conviction recorded so the former children's swimming instructor could continue working in the job and be eligible for future IVF treatment.
But Judge Meredith said while he accepted Peterson was "genuinely remorseful", a conviction was necessary to "mark the seriousness of your offending".
He indicated that if she had not pleaded guilty, he would have imposed a minimum one-year and three-month jail term.
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Australian Associated Press
