Teen denies sex assault in pub smoking area (From Worcester News)

Matthew Todhunter sexual assault trial

4:28pm Thursday 24th January 2013 in News

A teenager accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the smoking area of a Worcestershire pub told a jury he was never alone with her on the night of the alleged offence.
Matthew Todhunter told Worcester Crown Court he had gone to the Manor Arms in Abberley with a friend on the night of March 3 last year after they had a couple of drinks in Martley.
There were other people there he knew and he had gone outside to the smoking area with them because he did not want to be left on his own. He denied that he had seen the woman go out of the pub alone with a cigarette and deliberately followed her.
It is alleged Todhunter, aged 18, who was living in the village at the time, put his hand down her trousers and up her top and then
tried to get her to carry out a sex act on him.
A young girl also claims he put his hand inside her bra on the same night after jumping onto her back.
Todhunter, now living in Hednesford Road, Heath Hayes, Cannock, denies attempted rape and two counts of sexual assault on the woman.
He has also pleaded not guilty to sexual assault on the girl.
Todhunter told the court he went to a special school because of his dyslexia but said he could manage to deal with text messages.
He said he had twice had sex with the woman, once in late 2011 and again in February last year, both times on a sofa.
The jury heard text messages sent between them which Todhunter said referred to the sexual encounters.
Paul Whitfield, prosecuting, suggested the texts had a "perfectly innocent" explanation and that Todhunter had just put a sexual interpretation on  them. He suggested sex had never taken place with the woman. Todhunter said it had.
The day after the alleged incident in the pub, the woman sent a message saying Todhunter had broken the button on her trousers and scratched her breast. She said "this has to stop" and "no means no." He replied with "okay mate" but said this was not an admission he had done anything.
He told the court he had walked across a field in the dark with the young girl and others but denied jumping on her for a piggyback and putting his hand inside her bra. He said he weighed nearly 16 stone and would have squashed her if he had done so.
The trial continues.