A CHARD man convicted of exposing himself to a female dog walker in a local park has had his sentencing delayed so he can have a mental health assessment.

Brendan Leigh Harnett approached the female victim in Snowden Park as she was walking her dogs and exposed himself to her asking “do you like it?”

The terrified victim left the park immediately and later picked out the defendant during a police identity parade.

During his trial before Somerset Magistrates Harnett claimed he could not have possibly been in the park at the time as he had been seen by a visiting medical professional who had been assessing his bed-ridden stepfather at their home.

However, the magistrates said that the timings were not necessarily accurate, and that the answers provided by the defendant had been “hesitant”.

The victim said she had been 100 per cent sure that she had identified the right person at the police station.

Harnett, 22, of Bubwith Close, Chard, was convicted of intentionally exposing his genitals on April 16 intending that someone would see them and be caused alarm or distress.

The case had been adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared by the Probation Service for the Bench to have more information about the defendant.

However at the sentencing hearing defending solicitor Chris Ivory said that Harnett was in the process of undergoing an assessment to determine whether he suffered from bipolar disorder and asked for the case to be adjourned.

He said: “Because of the potential risk of a custodial sentence the court should not proceed today as it is not in the interest of justice to do so,” he said.

“Anyone with a mental illness should have that explored before potentially going to prison.”

He said that Harnett’s mother was extremely anxious about the proceedings.

He added that following a request from the magistrates she gave evidence regarding her son’s behaviour over the preceding years and how it had got “progressively worse”.

She said he had become increasingly withdrawn, had dropped out of education and had spent the last five years as “a prisoner in his own bedroom.”

As a result of the defence request the magistrates agreed to adjourn the case to Monday, November 23 to enable a mental health assessment to take place.

Until then Harnett’s bail was extended with a condition that he must not go to Snowden Park in Chard.