A 16-year-old girl was left “terrified” when a property developer stranger sexually assaulted her in a Dunfermline Wetherspoons on new year’s day.
Lithuanian Giedrius Ambrazevicius was found guilty after trial last week of touching his victim’s private parts near the entrance to the city’s High Street premises in the early hours of January 1 2022.
The 40-year-old, who was on a trip to Scotland with his family at the time, had denied the allegation and lodged a special defence of consent.
A jury convicted him of sexual assault after the three-day trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.
Assault
Giving evidence by video link, the now-19-year-old woman said she was in the entrance area to Guildhall & Linen Exchange when Ambrazevicius put his arm around her shoulder and said something she did not understand.
The woman said: “He pulled me closer in to him.
“He said ‘what’s your door number?’ and I said ‘why?’
“I still did not know who he was at this moment.
“He said ‘for afters’. I took that to mean ‘to have a drink’. I just said we were not drinking.
“He was still pulling me closer in to him. His arm was tight around me.
“I was trying to pull away. I said ‘get off of me’.
“His hand was travelling down my back and started squeezing my bum (over her shorts).
“He was whispering in my ear… I’m sure he said ‘darling’ at one point.
“I was still trying to move away and he put his hand, still over my clothing, round the front”.
Shouted for help
Asked by prosecutor Jamie Hilland how she felt at this point, the woman said she was “terrified” and was shouting for her friend, who was outside in the High Street with others, making TikTok videos.
The woman said the man then put his hand down the back of her shorts and round to her private area.
Asked how she felt when this happened, the woman said: “Disgusted, scared.”
She shouted for her friend about three or four times and tried to pull away but she said Ambrazevicius then put his hand on her face and tried to pull her in to kiss her.
Asked by Mr Hilland if she had given him any indication of consent, she replied: “No, I don’t know the man, I have never seen him before”.
Defence lawyer Gordon Stewart had suggested the woman’s friend would have been close enough to hear her shouts and that she was not being pinned down so could have walked outside.
She said her friend was playing music on her phone and talking to others outside who had been drinking alcohol and that she was so scared by what was happening she did not know what to do.
The friend told the trial she only heard her friend shout when she came outside and described her as being upset.
Insists contact was consensual
Ambrazevicius told the trial he was on a two-day trip to Scotland and was staying at the hotel for new year celebrations with his wife, children and friends.
He accepted carrying out a sexual act but insisted it was consensual and happened spontaneously.
He said they wished each other happy new year and she took his hand in “friendly contact” before they went to the entrance and hugged.
CCTV was played to jurors
Asked by Mr Stewart if she indicated she did not consent, Ambrazevicius said: “There was no indication in her movements, no words.
“There were no words from her… that would make me believe I was doing something against her will.
“In the video you can see I never held her against her will.”
Police summoned
He claimed that afterwards the girl invited him to a party in her room but he and a friend decided to go to the pub instead.
Prosecutor Mr Hilland highlighted part of the footage and suggested she tried to push Ambrazevicius away and he grabbed her arm.
In response, Ambrazevicius, aided in court by a Lithuanian interpreter, told the trial: “You see only part of it, a second. It may look like this but it was not”.
After the attack, the woman said she and her friends spoke to a staff member, who contacted police.
Detective constable Lynsey Brown spoke to her at the scene and recalled her being shaken and distressed but “perfectly coherent” in recounting details and had “no concerns she was intoxicated”.
The complainer also went for a medical exam, which revealed scratches and a bruise above her bottom.
She said she was not aware of these marks prior to the incident.
Police interview
Detective sergeant Robert Finch read out notes taken during an interview with Ambrazevicius following his arrest that day.
During questioning, he said he moved his hands under the woman’s pants and touched her private parts.
Asked how she would have consented, he told police he first hugged her and she did not move away or say anything.
Ambrazevicius was convicted by majority verdict of sexually assault.
Sheriff John MacRitchie adjourned sentencing until April 4 and he was placed on the Sex Offenders Register meantime.
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