‘Uni assault allegations broke my heart’
A university graduate accused of sexually assaulting a woman outside a student bar after she passed out on his lap said he was left ‘heartbroken’ by her allegations.
Louis Woods, 28, allegedly touched the complainant sexually during a night out at the Birkbeck University bar in central London on 18 March 2019.
The woman was drunk and went outside to the bar’s smoking area to get some air when she was assaulted, Wood Green Crown Court has heard.
Giving his evidence Woods told jurors he was ‘very very upset’ by her allegations.
Bibi Ihumoah, defending Woods, asked him: ‘When you left the terrace are with the victim back into the bar what mood were you in?’
He replied: ‘I was very happy, my dream had come true, she really did like me and it had confirmed what I thought all along.’
Woods said the woman seemed ‘very happy’ and they put their arms around eachother.
But later, as he made his way home, he received a message from someone he didn’t know.
Ms Ihumoah read from a message written to Wood, that turned out to be from the complainant’s boyfriend, which said: ‘Don’t molest my girlfriend you pathetic piece of s–t’
The barrister asked: ‘Did you understand why you received that message.’
Woods replied: ‘I was really confused I thought it could’ve been a prank.’
‘Did you have any idea who might have sent the message?’ Ms Ihumoah asked.
‘No none at that point,’ Woods said.
Ms Ihumoah asked: ‘You agree do you not that the victim made a complaint about you?’
Woods replied: ‘Yes, she did.’
‘And are you able to help the court as to how you felt in relation to the allegation that had been made against you?’ Ms Ihumoah asked.
‘In regard to the allegation I was very very hurt, heartbroken even….we had built a friendship, something very very beautiful and it had been destroyed,’ said Woods
‘The allegation the victim made, was it true?’ asked Ms Ihumoah
Woods replied: ‘Of course not, everything we did that night was consensual.’
He said he was aware that the woman had a boyfriend.
During cross-examination prosecutor Liam Gregory said: ‘So in terms of you evidence you suggested she tried to put her hands down your trouser outside on the terrace?’
Woods replied: ‘Yes she did try, it didn’t stay there very long.’
The prosecutor asked Woods about the intimate touching that went on and whether she at any point said ‘please do that to me’.
Woods replied: ‘She didn’t give me verbal consent but I did ask her if she was ok and from her mannerisms and how she had been during the day, at the bar we were holding hands.
‘She sat on a pile of bags just to be closer to me a lot of little things led up to me thinking that something was going to happen and that I had consent to do it.’
Mr Gregory said: ‘Her evidence describes you as ‘creepy’, ‘pervy’ and that she ‘felt sorry for you’.’
Woods replied: ‘I have no idea why she would say that.’
Woods, of Wandsworth, denies two charges of assault by penetration.
The trial continues.
