Stornoway rugby coach cleared of indecent assault 24/7/08
The head coach of Stornoway Rugby Club was today (thurs)acquitted of indecently assaulting a sleeping woman.
Australian national Matthew John Hunter, openly accepted his drunken mistake in climbing into bed with the woman claiming that only her “smile” gave him permission to do so.
The four-day jury trial at Stornoway Sheriff Court ended last night with a majority verdict finding Hunter not guilty on two charges.
The 33-year-old of 10B Steinish who works as a butcher in Stornoway who intends to marry his long-term fiancée in Italy next month.
He pleaded not guilty to touching the woman in an intimate place in Laxdale, Stornoway last November.
He also denied a breach of the peace and disorderly conduct by getting into the bed beside her.
The court heard that Hunter headed for the woman’s bedroom after being out with his fiancée for a meal.
She was fast asleep and his advances were unwanted and uninvited.
He believed that her smile, after he shook her awake, signalled consent and he stripped off his jeans, clambered over her, put his arm around her and kissed her neck.
QC Mark Stewart said it was “foolish, foolhardy, frightening, unfair on his partner. It was shameful - a regret for the rest of his life no doubt.”
He criticised a prosecution suggestion that two witnesses, who said they heard the woman invite Hunter to her house, were liars and “part of a criminal conspiracy to prevent the course of justice.”
Mr Stewart said that Hunter held “moral guilt” but did not commit any criminal wrong.
Procurator fiscal David Teale said Hunter was not stereo-typical but still a sex attacker who “devised a “step by step plan to have a sexual experience with the woman - starting possibly with their conversation at the Sea Angling Club that night.”
He said the woman “only woke up when the accused was touching her on intimate places on her body” and became hysterical and “truly frightened.”
