Golf club captain in sexual harassment case ‘warmed hands on woman’s breasts’
THE ‘influential’ captain of a golf club warmed his hands after coming in from a round by placing them on a woman’s breasts, a court has heard.
Malcolm Fawcett, 57, has been accused of a campaign of sexual harassment over several years against four women.
On more than one occasion he would allegedly simulate sex with another woman by grabbing her waist while she was bent over.
One of Fawcett’s alleged victims told police she was afraid to make a complaint as he was an ‘influential’ man at Brancepeth Castle Golf Club, near Durham.
A jury at Teesside Crown Court was told several of the allegations were witnessed by other people and several incidents were reported to management at the golf club.
Philip Standfast, for the prosecution, said the club failed to act properly when Fawcett’s alleged victims reported inappropriate behaviour.
Fawcett is said to have started the sexual assaults when he was vice captain and the frequency of the attacks increased after he was made captain. Mr Standfast told the court of one alleged victim’s experience: ‘The defendant put his hand down her top, between her breasts, and
‘Regularly brushed against her’
then said something like his hands were cold. She was shocked and asked him what he was doing, the defendant replied by giggling and walking away.
‘A few weeks after that the defendant came from behind her, put his arms around her midriff and rubbed his crotch against her bottom. That same week the defendant did it again – simulating having sex with her.’
In another incident, Fawcett was accused of slipping his hand across the same woman’s bottom and towards her genitals, while laughing and making lewd comments.
The court heard another of the alleged victims ‘felt uncomfortable being around the defendant’ as she had heard him talking about her and other woman in a ‘sexualised’ way.
Another alleged victim said the defendant would regularly ‘ brush against her’ and apologise for his behaviour and on one occasion he is said to have ‘kissed her on the lips’ without permission or invite.
Mr Standfast said the defendant told police following his arrest that he had a ‘tactile’ relationship with the women and would regularly give them a hug or a peck on the cheek.
Fawcett, of Durham, has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges of sexual assault dating from January 2016 until January this year.
Five charges relate to one of Fawcett’s four alleged victims, three to another, two charges to a third and one to a fourth. The trial continues.