Indecent assault trial told woman was asleep 22/7/08
A jury heard claims that a Lewis resident climbed into bed with a sleeping woman and sexually assaulted her.
Matthew John Hunter is on trial at Stornoway Sheriff Court. He pleaded not guilty to indecently assaulting a female in the Nurses' Home at Laxdale Court, Stornoway last November.
The 33-year-old of 10B Steinish is arguing a special defence of consent and is represented by senior counsel.
Today (Tuesday) the jury was told that the woman and a female friend had been drinking and were merry but not drunk. They heard that the woman had been chatting to Hunter in the Sea Angling Club but was later in the town centre and had gone home alone.
Sarah Macmillan said she was in the flat when the woman arrived and fell asleep in bed within minutes. Ms Macmillan and a friend went out for a walk. When they returned about half an hour later the woman was sitting on the edge of her bed crying and distressed.
Ms Macmillan said: "She was an absolute wreck and you couldn't understand anything she was saying. Matt (Hunter) was lying behind her on the bed."
She accepted she incorrectly assumed that the woman had been raped and had called the police on that basis.
Norman Macdonald said he saw Hunter lying on the bed bare-chested and in his boxer shorts.
QC Mark Stewart said that Hunter did not run away and was reluctant to leave even when told the police had been summoned and had to be "physically escorted out of the building."
The jury heard a taped interview Hunter gave to police where he believed his actions were consensual: "To my thinking she woke up when I came in."
The trial continues.
