Teenager not guilty of assaulting woman

A FORT William teenager has been found not guilty of assault and sexual assault.

At Fort William sheriff court on Friday, Reece MacIsaac, of Birch Road, Caol, denied repeatedly hitting a woman’s head against a glass table, throwing a broom at her, putting her in a headlock and touching her breasts at an address in Fort William on November 21 last year.

After a four-hour trial, sheriff Brian Cameron found the 18-year- old not guilty as a result of discrepancies in crown evidence. The alleged victim appeared as the first witness, and told the court MacIsaac had pulled her by the waist on to a couch with him and didn’t let her go, before putting both hands on her breasts. She said she had to shout to her friends, who were in another room, to help her. She then said MacIsaac became angry and put her in a headlock before ‘smashing her head off a table’. The second witness supported the first statement, but said she had been in the room during the alleged sexual assault and saw it herself. But the defence witness, another teenage girl who had been at the property, denied any of it happened and said the complainer had been the one acting violently during an argument.

Sheriff Cameron said: ‘I heard from three witnesses and I have to say the most credible and reliable was the last witness [for the defence].

MacIsaac also denied behaving in a threatening and abusive manner towards the three girls, which Sheriff Cameron found to be not proven.

The accused pleaded guilty to two charges of threatening and abusive behaviour towards police officers who attended the incident and sentence was deferred until October 13 for background reports.