A WOMAN has told a jury how her body ‘shut down’ after allegedly being sexually assaulted by a Port Glasgow man following a night out in the town.

Brian McLean, 34, denies carrying out the assault at a property on Moorfield Avenue on April 10, 2022.

Prosecutors claim that McLean placed his hands on the woman’s body, before guiding her to a bedroom where he removed her clothing and assaulted her using his hands and mouth.

The charge alleges that the incident took place between two bedrooms, with McLean also being accused of pushing his fingers into the woman’s mouth and causing her to choke.

Jurors at Greenock Sheriff Court heard evidence from the complainer in the case over the course of two days this week.

The woman explained that she had been on a night out with McLean and others on April 9, 2022, and was invited to his home with another man in the early hours of April 10.

McLean is standing trial before a jury at Greenock Sheriff Court (Image: Newsquest) She told the court she had been drinking, but did not consider herself to be ‘so drunk’ that she could not remember what happened that night.

The other man left the property around 45 minutes after arriving; the woman said she chose to stay and planned to book a taxi a short while later as she felt the firm would not send two at once.

She told the jury she continued to ‘chat’ with McLean before he attempted to kiss her in the kitchen – at which point she pushed him back.

The court heard that the witness expressed her desire to leave and return home, with McLean encouraging her to stay.

She described being guided upstairs ‘with force’ towards a ‘dark’ bedroom, where her clothing was removed and the alleged sexual assault took place.

The witness said: "I just asked him to stop and to get off."

The woman said she was ‘pulled by the arm’ into another bedroom, where the assault ‘progressively got more violent’.

Having later fallen asleep in the bed next to McLean, the woman said she awoke some time after 8am and left the property through the back garden before calling a taxi.

(Image: Newsquest) She was met at her front door by her mother, who later contacted police.

Giving evidence, the complainer’s mum said: “She was sobbing. She could hardly breathe.”

In a police interview, which was played in full before the jury, McLean denied the allegations against him.

Defence advocate Joseph Barr suggested that woman had ‘made up this entire story of a sexual encounter’ after waking to find she was 'due home hours ago’.

He said: “If you had been sexually assaulted by Brian McLean, as you claim, you would not be sleeping blissfully from 6am through to 8am.”

The woman replied: “At no point did I say I slept blissfully.

“There comes a point, when you have been through that, that your body shuts down - whether that is you fall asleep or you just try to ignore what’s going on.

“Your body deals with that in the way that it has to.”

Mr Barr put it to the witness that McLean had wanted to go to bed alone and ‘effectively abandoned’ her in the kitchen before she went upstairs to sleep in the spare bedroom.

She said: “That is inaccurate.”

Jurors also heard evidence from a forensic scientist who had examined DNA samples obtained from the McLean and the woman in the aftermath of the alleged incident.

The expert witness told the court that the complainer's DNA was found in samples taken from McLean's finger nails, but not transfer was detected in swabs taken from her.

The trial, before Sheriff James Varney, continues.