A PORT Glasgow man accused of carrying out a sexual attack on a woman following a night out in the town has been cleared by a jury.
Brian McLean, aged 34, walked free after standing trial at Greenock Sheriff Court over the alleged assault at a property in Moorfield Avenue on April 10, 2022.
Prosecutors claimed that McLean had placed his hands on the woman’s body, before guiding her to a bedroom where he was alleged to have removed her clothing and assaulted her using his hands and mouth.
The charge alleged 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.
But following a trial, which included two days of evidence from the complainer, the jurors found him not guilty by a majority verdict.
The woman had told the court she had been on a night out with McLean and was invited to his home with another man into the early hours of April 10.
In her evidence she said she had been drinking, but did not consider herself to be ‘so drunk’ that she could not remember what happened that night.
She described being guided upstairs ‘with force’ towards a ‘dark’ bedroom, where her clothing was removed and the alleged sexual assault took place.
The woman said she was ‘pulled by the arm’ into another bedroom, where the assault ‘progressively got more violent’.
Her mother was also called to give evidence after she told that she was met at the front door by her daughter who was sobbing.
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."
Jurors also heard evidence, before Sheriff James Varney, 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.
In the end the jurors returned to deliver a not guilty by majority verdict.
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