By Clare Sibthorpe
A young woman has described continually asking a former NSW sex crimes detective permission to leave his police car when he groped her, after she sought his help to investigate a sexual complaint against her ex-boyfriend.
Glen Coleman, 57, is accused of sexually touching the then-19-year-old on two occasions in his police car and allegedly raping her inside a police station, as well as repeatedly offering her money for sex and sending her unsolicited intimate photos of himself after he discovered she worked at a strip club.
Former police officer Glen Coleman leaves Penrith Courthouse on Tuesday.Credit: Rhett Wyman
On the second day of Coleman’s trial at Penrith District Court, the woman said she went to a north-west Sydney police station in February 2022 to originally complain about a cousin threatening to post naked photos of her online.
However, Coleman told her that they could not proceed with the complaint because the cousin had acted immorally, not criminally.
But on a subsequent visit, the woman raised another matter – a former boyfriend who would say “no” when she asked him to stop having sex. Coleman indicated he could do something about that.
During an interview about this complaint, she said Coleman asked intimate questions about her and her ex-boyfriend’s sex life, and when they got up to leave, she saw the detective had a “wet patch” on his trousers.
Coleman argues sexual contact with the complainant was consensual.Credit: James Brickwood
“He said, ‘I’m hard right now’ and I said ‘Why?’ and he said ‘I’m hard for you’,” she said.
Asked by Crown prosecutor Kate Nightingale how that made her feel, she became emotional and said “really gross and confused”.
Several days after the interview, the woman said she met Coleman at a western Sydney park after he asked if they could discuss her complaint somewhere other than the police station.
When it started raining, they moved to his police car, where Coleman said, “I have an offer for you”, the woman told Nightingale.
“He said ‘I will give you $500 to have sex with me’ … I was shocked … I said ‘Aren’t you married?’ and he said ‘It doesn’t mean I love my wife any less; $500 is a lot of money’.”
The woman said she refused the offer for sex and one for her to do an erotic dance. He then cupped her breasts inside her clothes, grabbed her genitals outside of her clothes and started rubbing himself, she said.
“I kept asking if I could leave … he kept touching me,” she said.
“I didn’t think I could go without asking … He was a cop.”
Asked by Nightingale why she felt she had to ask him to leave, the woman said: “Because I felt like I was doing something wrong and I wanted to go … I didn’t know what to do. I froze.”
She thought she had finally found someone who believed her about her ex-boyfriend.
“I needed something to come out of it; I wasn’t going to re-traumatise myself for nothing,” she told the jury.
The woman said days later she again met Coleman in his police car because she still needed his help with her ex-boyfriend, and he allegedly put his hands inside her pants and made lewd comments.
“I felt really gross, I froze. I hated it,” she said, adding she eventually agreed to show him her breasts because she wanted to leave.
She said Coleman pulled her underwear to the side and said “it’s magnificent”.
“I’m super uncomfortable with what he said. It’s really gross and I don’t like it; it’s horrible,” she told the court.
Nightingale earlier told the jury they would hear evidence Coleman allegedly raped the woman in an interview room after putting $70 on the desk and telling her she could leave after they had sex.
Coleman has pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual intercourse without consent, six counts of sexual touching without consent and one count of abusing his position of public office to procure the woman for his own sexual gratification.
He was arrested eight days after an investigation was launched on May 12. The woman had sought advice from her friend’s police officer parents about one of Coleman’s Snapchat messages allegedly offering cash for sex. She was urged to report it to police.
Coleman’s defence barrister Joel Brook told the court his client denies “he ever sexually touched or had sexual intercourse with the complainant without her free or wilful consent”.
He said Coleman rejected abusing his position of public office to the degree he is accused of.
NSW Police confirmed Coleman was dismissed from the force on September 5, 2022.
The trial before Judge Robert Montgomery continues.