Young woman grabbed twice on the bottom while ordering in a Magherafelt takeaway felt 'uneasy and scared', court told

Phelm Rocks, aged 50, from Mullan Road, Coagh, denied two counts of sexual assault and admitted a charge of disorderly behaviour arising out of the incident at Queen Street, Magherafelt, in the early hours of July 7 last year.

Ordering a pre-sentence report for August 13, District Judge Oonagh Mullan said nowadays there were far too many incidents of sexual assault on young people.

The court heard the 25-year-old victim had been out with friends at a hen party. Giving evidence on videolink, she said she had gone to the counter to order when someone she did not know approached her from behind and grabbed her bum.

The victim said she asked him to stop and not to do it again, and he did it for a second time and laughed at her when she told him that he was probably on CCTV.

The witness recalled Rocks laughed and told her to go and get the CCTV.

She said she then left the premises to go and get the police.

When asked by the prosecution lawyer how she felt, she replied: “uneasy and scared”.

She said another man had come in and saw what happened and told the defendant to stop.

The victim said she gone out and flagged down a passing police car and explained to them what had happened.

Rocks told the court that he has been a plasterer for 25 years and had no criminal convictions.

He said he had been in a local bar with “a squad of boys” and “I was wrote off” and could not drink anymore.

Rocks claimed he had no recollection of the incident, but strongly denied sexually assaulting the injured party, saying “it’s not in my nature”.

He said he had slapped her on the back and was “only winding her up, carrying on with her – at my age I thought I was doing nothing wrong.”

Defence counsel admitted it was “outrageous behaviour” but there was nothing to suggest the touching was sexual and the charge could be substituted with common assault.