The defendant, Person A, was accused of inappropriate and unsolicited touching (on the buttocks, hips and thigh) and kissing by four separate complainants, a woman aged 50, and three of her four daughters, aged 19, 17 and 12, over a period of two years between 2017 and 2019.
Person A, a 33-year-old man and a good friend of the complainants’ husband/father, accepted that he had touched the complainants at various points, but denied that it was always in the manner that was alleged, and he maintained that it was never sexual. The defence case was that the complainants’ perception and memory of the events had become affected through the passage of time and contamination.
In the course of the two-week trial in the Crown Court at Kingston-upon-Thames, the defence sensitively cross-examined the complainants and their husband/father, and relied on a carefully prepared schedule of 194 selected text messages between the parties. Person A gave evidence in his own defence, as did his wife and four character witnesses.
Following a day of deliberation, the jury unanimously acquitted Person A of all the charges.
Ali Bajwa KC was instructed and assisted by Kyle Phillips, Fran Garvey and Georgia Learoyd at Howard Kennedy LLP.
Ali Naseem Bajwa KC