The victim of Mathew John Kindred's offence on April 23 last year told the County Court she feared she would be killed.

Kindred, 33, lived in Wodonga and a nearby town but was homeless after moving to Melbourne to find work.

He was using drugs in the lead-up to the offence but was withdrawing and was loitering in a laneway next to Festival Hall in Melbourne.

He grabbed the victim as she walked to work about 7.30am, covered her mouth, told her not to scream and forced her to the ground in a doorway to the venue.

The victim tried to offer her property to get him to leave her alone as he grabbed and held her breast.

He felt between her legs and under her buttocks, and squeezed her vagina over her clothes.

Kindred tried to drag her inside the venue and continued to hold onto her.

An off-duty officer happened to be passing by and the woman managed to flag him down, causing Kindred to flee into some bushes as the officer chased him.

He ran into a home, dumped some of his clothes, fled to another house and was found by police hiding in a bathroom.

The court was played an arrest video in which Kindred was told by a policeman to "get your f---ing hands behind your back".

"What are you doing?" an officer asked as he was held down and handcuffed.

"Grabbing some poor girl?"

Kindred, who has served multiple jail terms for offences in the Wodonga and Wangaratta region, sobbed on Tuesday as the victim told the court her life would never be the same.

"I've never felt so scared for my life and wellbeing," she said between tears.

"I remember not being able to fight to free myself.

"I've never felt so empty inside in all my life"

The victim wondered what Kindred would have done if he managed to drag her into the music venue.

She said she felt helpless during the ordeal and would never be the same person.

"Anyone should be able to go to work and feel safe from any crime being committed against them, and this has been taken away from me from that day," she told the court.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Kindred pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment and sexual touching.

He also admitted to a charge of theft, having stolen the victim's iPhone, cash and a backpack.

Judge Helen Syme told Kindred, who is at Hopkins Correctional Centre, there was no doubt he would spend more time in custody, with a sentence to be given on August 30.

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