Man cleared of sex assault on woman as she danced on bar
ASUPPORT worker has been cleared of sexual assault after he was accused of touching a woman’s crotch when she was dancing on the bar at a Cardiff nightclub.
Keir Jamieson, 21, denied the charge of sexual assault by touching, claiming the contact was accidental.
A jury took an hour to come to an unanimous verdict and found Mr Jamieson not guilty of sexual assault.
A trial had heard the incident at the centre of the allegation happened in the early hours of the morning in March this year at Coyote Ugly.
Mr Jamieson had been out drinking with friends and family from around 5pm the previous day.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Mr Jamieson was in the middle of a transaction with a barmaid stood behind the bar at the St Mary Street venue when his hands were ushered away from making a payment.
The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, then lowered herself down on the bar when Jamieson reached between her legs and made contact with her crotch area.
Mr Jamieson, who is a support worker caring for a friend with a serious brain injury after being involved in a road traffic accident, told the jury he was attempting to pass money to the barmaid when he made contact with the woman as she danced.
“I thought I could see a gap and I thought I could put my money through it. When I realised contact was made I just pulled my hand straight back,” Mr Jamieson told the court when he gave evidence in his own defence on Wednesday.
He did not dispute that contact had been made but maintained that it was accidental.
The jury was shown CCTV which showed the defendant reaching over the bar between the woman’s legs as she was dancing.
During his summing up Judge Neil Bidder QC told the jury there was no dispute over whether contact was made but asked them to consider whether the evidence provided to them was enough for them to believe the contact was intentional.
“There is no suggestion that the complainant consented or any suggestion that the defendant believed she consented,” he said before sending the jury out to deliberate.
When the not guilty verdict was delivered by the foreman of the jury it was met by cheers and shouts of “yes” from the public gallery.
Mr Jamieson, of New Road in Aberbargoed, has no previous convictions.