A police officer has gone on trial accused of sexually assaulting two people at a Perth nightclub.
Martyn Kelly is alleged to have touched a woman on the dancefloor at The Loft, then later asked a friend: “Have I f***ed my job?”
The 22-year-old woman told Perth Sheriff Court how she felt “completely violated” and was left struggling for breath.
Kelly, 37, is further accused of touching another man’s bottom on the same night, November 12 2023.
He denies both assault charges.
Works night out
The court heard both alleged victims were with Kelly on a night out in Perth on November 11 2023.
The group was mainly co-workers from a shop but former colleague Kelly had also been invited along.
After visiting Wetherspoon’s and the Bank Bar around six of them ended up at The Loft on South Street.
The female alleged victim said in the early hours of November 12, she was sexually assaulted while she was on the dancefloor.
“I was facing my sister, we were dancing.
“I felt someone put their hand between the back of my legs. They put their fingers on my vagina.”
She said the hand stayed for a couple of seconds before she spun round to face her attacker.
The woman first saw a male friend and challenged him, asking: “Why did you just touch me up?”
He denied he had done so and later in her evidence, she said: “I can confidently say he wouldn’t do that.”
She then saw Kelly standing to his left and asked him the same question.
“He didn’t deny it. He was saying: ‘Why are you getting so aggressive with me?’
“He just kept saying I was being really aggressive.”
The woman told prosecutor Stuart Hamilton both men were standing about half-a-metre behind her, with Kelly “maybe a bit closer”.
‘Violated’
She walked off the dancefloor and into the toilets.
“I needed to process what had just happened to me,” she said.
“I could barely breathe. I felt I had been completely violated.
“I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror for months afterwards.”
The court heard she informed bar and security staff and texted her sister – who was looking for her in the club upstairs – and then told police using an online submissions form.
Officers called her straight back and told her not to shower or change clothes.
‘Ach, I didn’t mean it’
The male friend who had been standing near Kelly, behind the woman on the dancefloor, also gave evidence.
The 24-year-old said he saw a hand reach towards his friend’s bottom as she danced.
He said he followed the hand as it retracted and saw Kelly standing next to him.
The man, who also cannot be identified, told police he asked Kelly about the alleged incident when they went back to his home in Perth.
“He kind of played it down,” he said in his statement.
“He said: ‘Ach, I didn’t mean it’ and things like that.”
Asked by Mr Hamilton how he knew Kelly, the man said they used to work together at the same city shop.
“At this time he was with the police but we stayed in contact,” he said.
Whatsapp messages
The court was shown a series of Whatsapp exchanges supposedly between the man and the accused.
One said to be from Kelly states: “Sorry if I was a d*** (more than usual) last night.”
His friend replied: “You weren’t to me, I’m more concerned about the girl.”
The response was: “Me too. Was I that bad? Have I f***ed my job.”
When the male responded the woman’s boyfriend is asking for Kelly’s details, he received a reply: “Tell him you don’t know?”
He continued: “My job’s at stake here,” before denying the assault.
Another message read: “OK, I think I’ll just speak to the police cos I need this dealt with.”
The man said later, Kelly appeared to have tried calling him, then texted: “I don’t want us to fall out over this.”
The male replied: “Mate, I’m f***ing raging, of course we’re falling out.”
‘Offered my girlfriend money’
The trial also heard from Kelly’s male alleged victim.
The 21-year-old said he had been standing near the bar with his girlfriend, chatting to Kelly.
“He was being playful but then was asking my partner inappropriate questions.
“At the time I thought he was joking but later thought he might have been serious.
“He was offering my partner money to, as he put it, ‘have time with me’.”
The man said when his girlfriend went to the toilet, Kelly told him: “It’s just you and me now, you can decide for yourself.”
“He then touched my bottom.
“It was more of a slap and grab kind of thing.
“He thought he was being funny but I was instantly uncomfortable.”
Kelly, whose address is listed as c/o Professional Standards Department, Edinburgh, denies the sexual assaults.
The trial before Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC continues in April.
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