A 29-YEAR-OLD man is on trial accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.
Andrew Chapman, of Peniel, was charged with sexually assaulting the teenager in Carmarthenshire on September 21.
Opening the case, prosecutor Robin Rouch said that the girl was vaping when Chapman, who was parked nearby, asked her to come over.
She began talking to him, and he asked for her name and how old she was, which she answered and told him she was 16. He also asked to borrow her vape.
“There came a point the complainant became nervous,” Mr Rouch said. He said the defendant asked if the girl was on social media and for her number.
“She lied and said she didn’t have any,” Mr Rouch said, adding that she refused to give him her number.
“At one point while asking for a kiss he reached out and made contact with her jacket around her chest area,” Mr Rouch told the jury.
“The touching was unwanted.
“The defendant denies that that took place.”
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Mr Rouch said that the girl became scared at that point, and pretended to receive a message to try get herself out of the situation.
He told the jury that Chapman told her to tell the person who ‘messaged’ to “f*** herself” and asked the girl to “come for a spin” instead.
She refused, and continued to ask him questions including about where he worked, before she was able to get herself away from the situation. She was later seen “very upset” and “crying”.
Mr Rouch said that, after the complainant explained what had happened, another person went to where Chapman was parked and filmed him still sat there in his vehicle.
The complainant spoke to the police the next day, and Chapman was arrested by the police.
Mr Rouch told the jury that Chapman said he had been resting in his vehicle at the time of the alleged offence after working on a dairy farm that morning, and said there was “no particular reason” he parked where he did.
“He accepted speaking to her and asking to borrow her vape,” Mr Rouch said.
“He denied asking her to kiss him and to go for a spin.”
The trial continues.
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