Three Suffolk girls told a court how they couldn't sleep and feared going out alone after being groped by a man while walking to school. 

In a victim statement read out before Ipswich Crown Court, one of the girls, who can not be named for legal reasons, said she felt sick every time she closed her eyes to go to sleep and had to move into her parents' room in the aftermath of the incident, fearing the man was in her bedroom.

Igor Ikoniak, 19, of Yeoman Close, Ipswich had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two charges of sexual activity with children aged 15 and one of an attempted assault of a child aged under 13.

The sentencing heard how Ikoniak had followed the girls along footpaths and grabbed their bottoms over their school uniforms in separate incidents in February and March last year.

Wayne Cleaver, prosecuting, said in the first incident, the girl recognised Ikoniak from having seen him before in the same area and he was walking along the road with his bike in the same direction as her.

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She became aware that he started walking more quickly and was catching up with her so she moved over to the other side of the road.

She then stepped aside to let Ikoniak through, but as he was doing so groped her before staring at her and cycling away.

Mr Cleaver said: "She believed it was not an accident, it was done deliberately."

The second girl was groped in similar circumstances as she moved to her right to let him through and she reported the incident to a female at her school before witnessing the defendant shortly afterwards leaning against a tree and staring into the school grounds.

In the third incident, the girl stopped by a driveway and pretended she was waiting for a friend after seeing Ikoniak cross the road onto her footpath.

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When the defendant reached out to grab her, she pushed his arm away and swore at him after which he left the area.

In their statements, read by Mr Cleaver, the girls described feeling less safe, confident and comfortable when going out.

The second girl targeted said: "I cry myself to sleep at night and try to forget it, but know that that is impossible.

"My anxiety has increased massively and I have to reassure myself every time I go out that everything will be ok, but part of me does not want to believe it."

The third girl said she did not feel safe at home and had to check rooms before she could do anything.

"I am very angry that someone should be able to impact someone so much, with no care for other people and what it puts them through," she said.

In mitigation, Matthew Ness said although Ikoniak could be given a prison sentence, this punishment would not enable him to sort his sexual behaviour problems.

He added that although he was 18 at the time of the offences, he was immature for his age while he had experienced bullying at school and had become 'socially isolated, awkward and withdrawn' and relied on his mother for support.

In sentencing Ikoniak, Judge Nicola Talbot-Hadley took account of Ikoniak's age and own vulnerabilities, as well as his guilty pleas.

She said: "The impact of these experiences on the girls should not be underestimated.

"I know you experienced trauma yourself at the hands of bullies, but your actions have caused trauma to three young girls."

Ikoniak was given a 16 month suspended sentence and ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work, while he will also wear a tag as part of a sexual harm prevention order banning him from going near schools.