Sex addict band member preyed on sleeping woman after tricking her into thinking he was her boyfrien

SEX ADDICT: José Sepulvida-Gomez has been caged for eight years (Pic: Met Police)
A SELF-confessed sex addict, who struggled to control his urges when drunk, was today caged for eight years after being found guilty of a serious sexual assault on a woman as she slept in her boyfriend's bed. Musician José Sepulvida-Gomez, 27, convinced the woman, aged in her 30s, that he was her boyfriend after climbing into the bed with her. Blackfriars Crown Court heard Sepulvida-Gomez, who is a musician in the Tribo Band South American-style drumming group which has played at the Notting Hill Carnival, struck at a party when most other guests had gone to sleep. The victim was at a house party in the flat share where her boyfriend lived in Finsbury Park, North London on August 30 2016. Sepulvida-Gomez, of Prospect Road, Woodford, east London, was also a guest at the bash. Judge Her Honour Gill said the victim drank about half a bottle of wine and went to sleep in her boyfriend's room at about 1am, because her intoxicated partner had passed out on the lounge sofa.

Sepulvida-Gomez was a member of the Tribo Band which is seen here at Notting Hill (Pic: YouTube)
She said most of the other guests, including one who was sick in the kitchen, had also gone to sleep, when Sepulvida-Gomez struck. She said: "She was sleeping in a T-shirt and underwear facing against the wall. She heard someone enter the room and thought it was her partner. "She asked if he has found her phone and you said yes. You new she had mistaken you for her boyfriend, but you pretended to be her boyfriend." It was then that he carried out the attack, before she realised and tried to get him off." She reported it to police the next day. He was convicted of one count of sexual assault by penetration and two counts of sexual assault, following a five-day trial. Judge Gill added: "You admitted in evidence that you are a sex addict and this is unmanageable under the influence of alcohol."
He was also placed under a sex offender management order that he must not contact the victim or be alone in a room with a woman in connection with any employment, without first giving his offender management team 24 hours notice. This was because a female witness had said that while giving her an individual drumming lesson, he had made sexual advances towards her. He was also made to sign the sex offenders register. Defence lawyer Miss Ailsa Williamson said that Sepulvida-Gomez was essentially a good person who made a mistake and that he cared for his disabled mother who was injured after being shot in Colombia. However, the court was told in 2017 he was convicted of two counts of assaulting a former girlfriend and two counts of criminal damage. PC Susanna Marri, of the Met’s Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command, said: “Jose Sepulvida-Gomez is an individual who preyed on a vulnerable woman when she was asleep in her boyfriend’s bed in a place where she felt safe. She had to relive the ordeal by giving evidence at court. “I would like to praise the courage of the victim in giving evidence against this man."