Eoghan Gallagher, 34, is said to have ‘grabbed’ and ‘squeezed’ the stranger between her legs as she walked past him at Floritas in Newcastle
A student, who has accused a doctor of groping her in a busy bar allegedly told him ‘you’ve picked on the wrong girl’ and punched him in the face.
Eoghan Gallagher, 34, is said to have ‘grabbed’ and ‘squeezed’ the stranger between her legs as she walked past him at Floritas in Newcastle.
Newcastle Crown Court heard, in response to the sexual assault, the alleged victim, who was studying at Durham University, told him ‘You don’t do that to a woman. You’ve picked on the wrong girl’ and punched him in the face.
The medic, from Knocknacarra, Galway, Ireland, denies sexual assault and is being tried by a jury.
Prosecutor Elizabeth Muir told the court the alleged victim, who was wearing stretchy, elasticated jeans, had been in the busy bar looking for friends in the early hours of the morning in spring last year.
The undergraduate was walking through the bar towards an adjoining door with a club next door named House of Smith when she encountered Gallagher.
Miss Muir told jurors: ‘She came across the defendant, who was standing in front of her as she was walking by.
‘As she approached him, she saw him move his right arm towards her.’
Miss Muir said the student then saw and felt the doctor’s hand between her legs.
She added: ‘She pushed him away and said words to the effect of “what are you doing, you don’t do that to a woman” and was screaming at him.
‘He was saying “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any trouble, what did I do?”
‘She describes being terrified at this point and punched him in the face and ran out and spoke to the door staff.’
The court heard Gallagher was removed from the club then arrested and cautioned by police, who were already outside on patrol of the city.
He was initially co-operative with officers and said he had done nothing wrong but gave no comment during interview.
The alleged victim told jurors from the witness box she had been concentrating on finding her friends in the bar that night and added: ‘I saw a gentleman put his hand out towards me. He was on my right side, he grabbed me.’
The woman said there had been no conversation and added: ‘I didn’t know the man.’
She told jurors: ‘He squeezed as well, I felt his fingers.
‘I said “What are you doing? You don’t do that to a woman”. I looked directly in his eyes. He said he was sorry.’
The woman said she was left in tears by the ordeal.
Ros Scott-Bell, defending Gallagher, said the doctor’s recollection of the incident was that he and the woman accidentally came together as he turned to speak to his friend and he apologised because he believed he had spilled her drink.
The doctor’s recollection of the incident was that he and the woman accidentally came together as he turned to speak to his friend and he apologised because he believed he had spilled her drink
But the woman replied: ‘Absolutely and categorically not. Absolutely not, that was not the case at all, that was not the case.’
The alleged victim added: ‘He made a conscious decision to put his hand on me then grab, squeeze, I felt his fingers.’
The woman admitted she had punched the man and added: ‘There is no way I would punch someone for spilling a drink on me.
‘I am not proud I punched him, I don’t condone violence but I was so shaken, I just panicked, I hit him.
‘It is not something I was proud of, that was because he had completely invaded my body.’
The woman told jurors she had said to the man: ‘You don’t do that to a woman, you’ve picked on the wrong girl.’
Miss Scott-Bell suggested that the victim had not been sexually assaulted at all that night but she replied: ‘I was sexually assaulted.’
The trial continues.
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