The defendant had approached the complainant as she walked at night to post a letter. When she declined to have sex with him, he grabbed her track suit bottoms by the pcket. She ran off. He appealed conviction for sexual assault, saying that the touching had not been sexual.
Held: To decide whether a touching was sexual, the court had first to ask whether it might be sexual because of the nature of the touching, and secondly whether the circumstances surrounding the touching made it sexual. Where a person was wearing clothing, the touching of that clothing was a touching of the person. The words spoken by the defendant made the touching which followed sexual. Appeal dismissed.
Judges:
Lord Woolf LCJ, Davis, Field JJ
Citations:
Times 08-Feb-2005
Statutes:
Sexual Offences Act 2003 78(b)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Crime
Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.223076
