Gazza awaits fate in kissing trial as jurors ponder verdict
JURORS will return to their deliberations today in the trial of former Rangers star Paul Gascoigne, who is accused of sexually assaulting a woman by forcefully and sloppily kissing her on a train last August.
The ex-midfielder denies the charge, saying that he had only kissed the complainant to reassure her after overhearing someone call her overweight.
In his closing speech to the jury, prosecutor William Mousley QC said of Gascoigne’s account: “Right from the start, members of the jury, he lied, and lied, and lied. He lied right up to and including the time when he was giving evidence in court yesterday.
“There’s an obvious reason as to why he lied and that’s because he knows he is guilty of sexual assault but wants to put up a smokescreen, cause a diversion, suggest it was not as it so obviously was.”
Mr Mousley said of the kiss: “Either it was an unpleasant assault, or it was an act of kindness. Guilty if the former, not-guilty if it were the latter.
“This is a case, we submit, about truth and lies.
“There is a stark difference between the two and we submit that if you approach this case by deciding which facts you are sure about, that will lead you to a conclusion one way or the other.”
Referencing Gascoigne’s suggestion that he only sounded slurred during the train journey because he had taken a dental bridge out of his mouth, Mr Mousley said the former footballer had “lied through his teeth, whichever teeth they were”.
He told jurors that the defendant’s celebrity status means that he “is not deserving of special treatment”, but equally that it should not prejudice his case.
In her own closing speech, Michelle Heeley QC, defending, said: “Quite frankly, the defence case is that you cannot be sure that Mr Gascoigne had a sexual intention.”
She added: “In his own naive way, he thought he was making a larger woman have more body confidence.
“It’s a clumsy way to go about building someone’s confidence, but it was not sexual.”
The jurors retired yesterday afternoon to begin deliberations and were sent home at 4.30pm.
They will resume their deliberations at Teesside Crown Court at 10.30am today.