Melbourne lawyer Glenn Thexton found guilty of groping teen girl outside kebab shop

Lawyer Glenn Thexton has revealed he will appeal a guilty verdict which found the prominent legal figure grabbed a 17-year-old girl’s buttocks during a night out drinking with colleagues.

Lawyer Glenn Thexton has been found guilty of groping a teenager outside a kebab shop nearly six years ago. Picture: X

A prominent Melbourne lawyer has been found guilty of groping a teenager outside a kebab shop, with a magistrate describing his evidence as a “self-serving reconstruction.”

Glenn Thexton, 45, who vehemently denies the sexual assault charge, told the Herald Sun he would appeal the finding that he grabbed a 17-year-old girl on the buttocks outside Queens Kebabs on King Street in Melbourne’s CBD during a night out nearly six years ago.

On Monday, magistrate Andrew Waters found the charge proven, rejecting Thexton’s claims that if any touching did occur, it was accidental and not sexual in nature.

“On the whole, my impression of Mr Thexton as a witness was that he was argumentative, tangential and evasive,” he told Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

“He repeatedly failed to answer the questions that were put to him, seemingly attempting to avoid answering questions, in my view, where he felt the answers would not be favourable to his case.

“I accept the girl’s account of this interaction and wholly reject the accused’s account as a self-serving reconstruction.”

Lawyer Glenn Thexton told the Herald Sun he plans to appeal the guilty verdict handed down this week. Picture: Supplied

The court heard Thexton had been drinking with colleagues and was intoxicated when he groped the teenager shortly before 11pm on September 25, 2019.

The girl had been at an underage event at Cloud Nine nightclub and was outside the kebab shop with friends when they encountered Thexton.

Two of the girl’s friends had earlier asked him for a cigarette, and Mr Waters said Thexton invited them to an upstairs bar — a claim he denies.

When told they were underage, he replied it did not matter, the magistrate said.

The group, including several males, later gathered outside the kebab shop, where Thexton had a brief confrontation with one of the boys before entering the eatery.

As he left, he walked behind the girl, who was standing with her friends on the steps, and grabbed her buttocks.

The incident was captured on CCTV from across the road, which obscured Thexton’s hand but showed him moving behind the victim.

“What is depicted in the CCTV is a deliberate action by the accused to touch the complainant’s buttocks with his left hand,” Mr Waters said.

“She felt more than a brushing past. She felt a grab.”

One of the victim’s friends gave evidence, saying her friend began hyperventilating and was visibly upset after the groping.

“He grabbed my arse,” the girl said, before pointing to Thexton stumbling down the footpath. Police were called and the girl provided a statement.

In a police interview, Thexton said he had no recollection of the incident and only learned of the allegation after Crime Stoppers released a photo of him, later published in the media.

A magistrate rejected Thexton’s claims that if any touching did occur, it was accidental and not sexual in nature. Picture: supplied

When shown footage of the incident, he said if he did touch the girl, it was unintentional.

Mr Waters said Thexton’s claim he was unaware of the allegation until the Crime Stoppers photo was either a lie or demonstrated an “extraordinarily poor” memory of the night.

While the magistrate found the girl to be an “honest witness,” he noted her claims that the grab lasted five seconds and that Thexton fled down an alleyway were not supported by the evidence.

He also criticised Victoria Police for delays in the investigation, noting some witness statements were not taken until nearly a year after the assault.

After the hearing, Thexton told the Herald Sun he maintained his innocence and he would appeal the finding.

“The Magistrate after making findings of the complainant giving imaginary evidence, then finds the matter proven is not accepted by the accused,” he said in a statement.

“The Police investigation was found by the Court to be substandard, and members of the public should not accept this standard of policing by Victoria Police.”

He also claimed there was a “conflict of interest” for him to be prosecuted by the Office of Public Prosecutions given he made submissions to the Officer of the Special Investigator over the Lawyer X scandal.

Thexton, who is on bail and appeared in court via video link, will be sentenced later this year.