Kieran King blamed his indecent assault on having too much to drink and being the "class clown". (File photo)

A man who pulled down the singlet top of a young woman walking in central Hamilton has escaped a formal penalty for the deed.

Kieran Ross King, 28, was granted a discharge without conviction when he appeared in the Hamilton District Court recently, after earlier admitting a single charge of indecent assault.

It was a charge laid following an incident in Victoria St at 1am on July 13. King had been drinking and watching a band with friends that evening and was walking down the street when his 21-year-old victim - who he did not know - walked past.

Without warning he pulled down her top twice, causing her breasts to be exposed, before walking away, laughing.

As the woman said in a victim impact statement, what he did made her feel worthless. She had been enjoying a night out with her friends and she had ended it in tears because of his actions.

In court, King's counsel Alexandra Williams applied for a discharge without conviction.

Her client had written a letter expressing remorse for his actions and he had attended and completed an alcohol course run by the Salvation Army.

He was intoxicated at the time of the incident and was not used to drinking so much.

In an affidavit to the court he described what he did as a spur of the moment decision that was not sexually motivated, but rather "an act of inappropriate humour as the class clown".

King was employed as a manager at a family-owned sheet metal business supplying the farming sector that employed more than 20 staff. He was set to buy into the business and a conviction would likely harm his business prospects in the future, Williams said in her submissions.

The discharge application was opposed by the police on the basis the assault was designed to demean his victim, it was sexual in nature, and was serious enough to warrant a conviction.

Judge Kim Saunders disagreed, and said there was nothing to suggest the assault was sexually motivated, it had not involved skin-on-skin contact, and there had been no long-term consequences for his victim.

He was also genuinely remorseful and had taken steps to avoid any kind of a repeat, the judge said before granting the application.

King had made an offer of $1000 in emotional harm reparation for his victim, and the judge ordered this be paid.

She also gave King a growling.

"She was entitled to be doing what she was doing and wearing what she was wearing."