Gympie man accused of gross act with sleeping teen

Seven witnesses give evidence in trial against Gympie man accused of sexually assaulting a teen while she was asleep

Steven James Glassop is charged with two counts of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl. Picture: Facebook

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mr Glassop was later acquitted of the charges

THE trial of a man accused of sexually assaulting a teenager while she slept will continue in Gympie District Court today.

Gympie man Steven James Glassop, 47, allegedly preyed on the 17-year old in her bed by touching her inappropriately twice during a men's football night at a friend's house two years ago on September 15.

"(The girl) went to bed and woke up feeling like someone was rubbing her…," the crown prosecutor told the court in the first day of the trial yesterday.

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"She saw the shadow of a chubby person and knew it was the accused," he said.

Seven witnesses were heard yesterday but the outcome might come down to the reliability of the alleged victim, Judge Gary Long said before adjourning the trial yesterday afternoon.

The girl's boyfriend gave evidence about the state his girlfriend had been in when she contacted him after the alleged assault.

"She was very distressed (and) crying pretty bad- she couldn't spit out words," he said from the witness stand yesterday.

"She (had) felt him standing in front of her and had felt him feeling her "down there"," he said.

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A second witness, a woman who lived at the home where the offence allegedly occurred said she had arrived home at 1.20am to find Mr Glassop and her husband drinking and talking loudly in the kitchen.

When she asked them to keep the noise down so they didn't wake the teenager, Mr Glassop said she was already awake.

The crown prosecutor later told the court the only way the defendant would know this is if he had been in her bedroom.

The woman dropped Mr Glassop home and when she returned she noticed the girl's bedroom light on and found her crying in her room, where she told the woman that Mr Glassop had been in her room and she had been woken by a pressure on her leg.

 

The trial of Steven James Glassop will continue in Gympie District Court today at 10am.

The woman also told the court she believed the girl had lied to avoid giving the clothing she had been wearing the night of the alleged assault as evidence to police.

When asked for the clothing by police she told them she had washed them, but the woman later found they had not been washed, the court heard.

When she approached the girl about it she told the woman she had not wanted the police to see her boyfriend's finger prints on the clothing.

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The woman's husband, who had spent the night drinking and watching football with Mr Glassop, said they had sat outside drinking after watching football and he could not recall him going inside during that time, but said he did not "watch his every move".

He said he was getting Mr Glassop's drinks for him from the fridge because his friend could not move well due to a hip injury.

"He didn't move so well so he kept his movements to a minimum," the witness said.

The girl's parents also gave evidence separately - each describing how upset the girl had been when she told them about the alleged attack the next night after returning home.

"She was very anxious, crying and it was hard for her to speak," her mother said.

The trial continues today at 10am.

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