A former supermarket supervisor has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a colleague while telling her how she featured in his sex dream.
Matthew Logan inappropriately touched the woman without her consent at least three times within the first hour of her morning shift at Auchterarder’s Co-op.
After he stroked her back and told her he had dreamed about her, she threw her headset across the shop and stormed out.
Logan, whose 24-year career at the Co-op has now ended, denied wrongdoing and insisted he was just trying to be nice.
He was found guilty of sexual assault and indecent verbal communication following a one-day trial at Perth Sheriff Court.
The 40-year-old was placed on the sex offenders register and will sentenced next month.
Sheriff Alison McKay told him: “To be absolutely clear, the behaviour that has been detailed in court today is not at the higher end of these charges – as far as the court is concerned, at least – but I am concerned that you may be lacking in appreciation about appropriate boundaries.”
Sexual dream
Logan’s victim, who is in her 30s, said she had been slightly late for her 6am shift at the High Street branch.
She said Logan followed her into the sales kiosk, stood behind her and put his hand on her back, between her shoulder blades.
CCTV showed the woman quickly exiting the kiosk afterwards.
In a second incident, Logan gave her an unwanted hug.
“One of my best friends had passed away and he was trying to console me,” she said.
“I high-fived him because I didn’t want to be hugged.”
Video footage showed Logan pulling the woman close and wrapping his arms around her.
A short time later, Logan approached her again while she was emptying bins on the shop floor.
“He said he had had a dream about me,” she told the trial.
“My response was: ‘In what f***ing context?’
“He said it was a sexual dream. He then came up behind me and said I asked him for sex in his dream.
“I remember closing my eyes, throwing my head back and clenching my fists.”
This encounter was also caught on camera.
The woman said the CCTV did not clearly show Logan sliding his hand down her back “past my bra and to the top of my pant line.”
“I was quite frozen,” she said.
Afterwards, the woman threw off her headset and walked out of the store, leaving her coat behind.
Ulterior motive to ‘friendly’ hug
By the time she got home, there were nine missed calls – eight from Logan and one from the store – on her mobile.
She said: “I told him I was disgusted.
“He messaged back and said sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
The woman, who cannot be identified, told the court: “I felt violated. I felt I had to leave a job that I really liked.
“I came to work to work, not to be touched or talk about sexual events.”
During cross-examination by lawyer Bethany Downham, the witness briefly stormed out of the courtroom when it was suggested the CCTV showed her putting her hand round Logan’s back during the hug.
“I did not want to be hugged,” she said.
“I shouldn’t have to say ‘don’t touch me, when we’re at work’.”
Asked if the hug was simply a friendly show of condolence, the woman said she believed Logan had an “ulterior motive”.
Taking to the witness box at his trial, Logan said there was nothing sinister about the hug.
“It was to show a bit of affection for someone who’s friend had passed away,” he said.
Afterwards, she told him “thank you,” he said.
Logan admitted he told her about his dream.
“I didn’t know how she would take it.
“There was no intention of harm anyone or show malice.”
Asked by prosecutor Sam Craib what he intended to achieve by sharing the dream, Logan, of Elmvale, Auchterarder, said: “Because of what happened to her friend, I was just trying to lighten the mood.”
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