A Toledo man was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for assaulting and robbing a transgender woman downtown.

Christopher Temple, 20, of 701 Cherry St. apologized in Lucas County Common Pleas Court for the Nov. 3 attack of Candice Rose Milligan, 33. He said he wishes he could take back his actions from that day.

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Temple said.

A high and drunk Temple was among a group of people who approached Ms. Milligan during the early afternoon at 13th Street and Madison Avenue, said his attorney, Merle Dech.

Temple and Ms. Milligan argued, and he struck her once. Ms. Milligan fell to the ground, “and then everything went crazy,” Mr. Dech said.

Temple has a criminal record and suffers from a drug and alcohol problem, he said.

Ms. Milligan, who did not appear in court, said in a written statement that the attack has forever changed her.

“What gives you the right to destroy my life on so many levels? I wonder how he would feel if his sister or mother were attacked in such a brutal way,” her statement read.

Ms. Milligan was repeatedly punched and kicked while on the ground. She underwent two surgeries for her injuries, police said.

Temple pleaded guilty March 6 to felonious assault and aggravated robbery, felonies of the second and first degree. He told a presentence investigator that he did not intend to plead to the charges, according to the report, but said in court Thursday that he accepted responsibility.

The prosecution said Temple did not express a bias when admitting his involvement in the attack to police.

Judge Dean Mandros said he accepts the assault was not motivated by the fact that Ms. Milliganis transgender, but the crime is still severe.

“Regardless of someone’s sexual orientation, race, gender, whatever, they have a right to be able to walk down the street without having the hell beat out of them,” said Judge Mandros, who credited Temple with 165 days previously served in jail.

First Published April 17, 2015, 4:00 a.m.