A hospital doctor has been cleared of groping a Durham University student who punched him in the face in a busy bar.
The woman claimed locum medic Eoghan Gallagher ‘grabbed’ and ‘squeezed’ her between her legs as she walked past him at Floritas in Newcastle.
She told jurors at Newcastle Crown Court she warned him, ‘you don’t do that to a woman. You’ve picked on the wrong girl,’ and then punched him because of what he did.
Mr Gallagher, who qualified as a doctor in 2012, was working as a locum while undergoing a masters programme at Queens University in Belfast at the time of the alleged offence.
Eoghan Gallagher has been cleared of groping a Durham University student who punched him in the face in a busy bar
The 34-year-old, of Knocknacarra, Galway, Ireland, denied sexual assault and has been found not guilty by a jury.
Jurors deliberated for two hours and 43 minutes before they cleared the medic of wrongdoing.
The doctor had told jurors he and the woman ‘came together’ entirely accidentally in the busy bar, where people were standing ‘shoulder to shoulder’ and that he assumed he must have spilled a drink on her when she punched him.
The court heard Mr Gallagher, who had spent two years living away in Australia, was in Newcastle with lifelong pal Steven Cohen, who works in banking, for a weekend city break.
The men had been on a night out in Newcastle when they arrived on a Friday in spring last year, watched six nations rugby on tv at their hotel the following day and were on their second night out when the alleged attack happened.
The doctor told jurors Floritas bar was busy, with ‘people jostling for positions and people who squeezed past’ him and his pal, who were just standing drinking their beers.
He added: ‘The next thing I remember, I was chatting to Steven, I had a drink in my right hand, his was half way empty and I realised I needed to get him a drink.
‘People had been squeezing past.
‘As I was glancing over to my left a young woman approached my left hand side.
Mr Gallagher was working as a locum while undergoing a masters programme at Queens University in Belfast at the time of the alleged offence
‘I turned to my left and a coming together happened, I think I bumped into her.
‘She immediately reacted, saying ‘don’t do that to a woman’.
‘I immediately responded with ‘what have I done? I’m sorry, what did I do?’
The doctor told jurors the woman ‘got quite upset’ and added: ‘The next thing, she struck me. I had no idea what happened.
‘My interpretation was I had spilled my drink on her.’
Mr Gallagher denied outright that he had groped the woman.
He told the court: ‘I didn’t put my hand anywhere near her vagina. I didn’t squeeze it.’
Ros Scott-Bell, defending, asked the doctor, who has no convictions or complaints against him, if the allegation was the sort of thing he would do.
The doctor said: ‘Absolutely not, I have never done anything like that nor would I do anything like that. ‘
During cross examination the doctor maintained that he had apologised to the woman because he believed he must have spilled a drink on her.
He added: ‘I did not grab her between the legs, why would I do something ridiculous like that? I’m a medical professional, this is something that would destroy my future, I would never do something like that.’