Lesbian victim of alleged sexual assault forced to justify her sexuality in court
Paisley Sheriff Court in Paisley, south-west Scotland. (AFP via Getty/ ROBERT PERRY)
A lesbian who was the victim of an alleged sexual assault has been forced to justify her sexuality in court, asked if she was “heterosexual at one stage”.
The alleged victim, who cannot be named, told Paisley Sheriff Court in Scotland that she was sexually assaulted by Kieran McNally, 23, in front of two other people at a house party, according to the Daily Record.
McNally is accused of assaulting her on 24 June, 2018, at a flat in Linwood, Renfrewshire, when she was drunk and asleep. The defendant denies the charges and claims that the two had consensual sex.
Giving evidence in court on Thursday (27 May), the woman said even if she had been conscious at the time of the alleged sexual assault, she would not have consented as she is a lesbian.
McNally’s defence, advocate Joe Barr, questioned the woman in court about her sexuality, asking: “Were you heterosexual at one stage and bisexual at another stage?”
When the woman didn’t understand the question, he pressed her on whether she had once “preferred boys”.
“It’s not that I preferred boys, I just didn’t really know what I was,” she responded.
Barr suggested that her friends and McNally may have thought she was bisexual and asked her if they had “got it wrong”.
“Definitely, because he was told just before this incident,” she said.
“It was three or four years ago, I can’t remember exactly when… he would know, because I told him.”
Barr then suggested that McNally and the woman had been “cuddling” and “kissing” on a bed at the party.
She responded: “No, I was facing the other way. I wasn’t cuddling him. He put his arm onto me and I told him to move his arm.
“That’s a lie. No, I never kissed him.”
When Barr suggested again that they had, in fact, been “cuddling and kissing” and that they had continued until others “left the room”, the woman broke down in tears and was unable to continue giving evidence.
Sheriff Tom McCartney adjourned the case until Friday (28 May).
