A woman has been cleared of sexually assaulting a teenage drag artist in a city nightclub.
Pamela Kane, 40, was accused of drunkenly exposing the woman’s breast during an incident in the smoking area of Pout nightclub, St Andrews Street, on March 14 this year.
Kane’s trial at Dundee Sheriff Court heard that the woman, who cannot be named, had been performing at a drag show at nearby Lyrics Music Bar earlier in the evening.
She denied sexually assaulting the 19-year-old student by placing her hand inside her clothing before touching her breast and exposing it.
This was after she had allegedly made remarks about the low-cut clothing that the woman was wearing.
When questioned by prosecutor Lora Apostolova, the woman said she felt “violated” after having her breast exposed.
She said: “I felt very uncomfortable. Even the realisation that other people were looking at me was making me afraid.
“Almost that it was going to happen again. I was very on edge after the incident occurred.”
Defence solicitor Kevin Hampton, however, argued that Kane, of Morgan Street, admitted pulling the woman’s clothing and had inadvertently exposed her breast. He told the court that there was no sexual motive to Kane’s actions.
Mr Hampton said during his cross-examination of the woman: “She does not accept that she ever made skin to skin contact on your body at any time.
“She, in her mind, thought she was being funny and that what she was doing was a laugh. She did not mean to sexually assault you.”
Sheriff John Rafferty returned a not proven verdict in the case, saying: “On the evidence that I have heard, I have got some considerable doubt if you placed your hands inside her clothing.
“The evidence that I have heard may suggest that you pulled at her clothing but that is not the libel before me.
“The libel also says touch her breast and again I put doubt as to whether that ever happened. I do not consider that in any way that she (the complainer) was exaggerating.”
The sheriff added: “If all that you did was to pull at her clothing in an effort to, totally inappropriately, reduce the level of exposure of her breasts then I do not think that was a deliberate intention to expose her breast.
“It was an exceedingly rude and ill-informed thing to do.”
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