Lumiere Chieh is accused of sexually assaulting a female colleague
A female manager at a publishing firm followed a drunken woman colleague into a pub’s toilet and sexually assaulted her in a cubicle, a court heard.
Senior manager Lumiere Chieh, 31, insists the encounter at The Sea Horse pub near the company’s central London office was consensual.
However, the complainant told Inner London Crown Court: ‘I have had flashbacks of her putting her hand down my pants. I think I was too drunk to consent.’
Chieh, of Hammersmith has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexually assaulting the woman on April 28, last year.
The incident resulted in her being sacked from the company, an industry leader in the educational field.
The complainant said she was sitting on the toilet when she suddenly became aware of Chieh standing in front of her.
However, the defendant insists the woman gave her a ‘nod’ to enter the cubicle and when she kissed her the complainant kissed her back.
‘I suddenly became aware of what was happening, that we were kissing,’ said the woman. ‘I remember my trousers being down and her hand being there.’
When asked if she recalled touching Chieh herself, she replied: ‘I can’t remember that.’
The alleged attack happened in the toilets of this pub in central London, the court heard
Chieh insists the woman was a willing participant until the moment she said: ‘Too much,’ which ended the encounter.
Other colleagues then heard about what happened, but the complainant, who describes herself as straight, insisted this did not embarrass her.
In a phone conversation the next day, Chieh said her behaviour may have seemed ‘predatory,’ the court heard.
‘She did say that. It stuck in my mind. I remember her clearly saying her actions may have seemed predatory,’ the woman said.
On the same night, Chieh exchanged kisses with another female colleague and they quickly became a couple, the court heard.
That colleague told the jury six weeks after they began dating Chieh confessed she had ‘hooked up’ with another woman the night they met.
The complainant told the court her working relationship with the defendant suffered and Chieh was sacked after a grievance was raised with HR after an office incident.
The woman confirmed she did not report Chieh to the police until it was suggested by her firm’s HR department.
Trial continues.
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