Monday, 25 April 2016

#Married City lawyer, 52, accused of having #sex in street with female QC could be charged with #sexualassault - MailOnline

A married City lawyer who is accused of having sex in the street with a female QC is yet to find out whether he is facing a charge of sexual assault.
Graeme Stening, 52, a senior lawyer at a private equity firm, allegedly engaged in a broad-daylight sexual act during the evening rush hour outside London’s Waterloo station in August last year.
The woman, who was arrested and thrown in the cells after being caught with her knickers round her ankles, initially accepted a caution.
But two months after the incident, the woman said the caution had been ‘administered erroneously’ because she was too drunk to consent to sex.
Stening was then interviewed about the new claims under caution and told a charging decision would be made at the end of last year.
But, despite being due to stand trial over the public decency offence in June, Stening has yet to find out if he will be charged with a sexual offence.
Stening pleaded not guilty to a charge of outraging public decency at a hearing in September last year, but his trial has been delayed as the sexual assault investigation took place.
During a pre-trial hearing at Camberwell Magistrates' Court today, Stening's lawyer Amarjit Bhachu said: ‘What is my client going to be defending?
‘Clearly one would expect a decision to be made before the trial takes place.’
Mr Bhacha told the court how the father-of-three had been told a decision would be made on charging by the end of December.

He added the officer in charge of the case had told him the file had been handed to the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit for a decision to be made.
But he said when he spoke to the unit, he was told no such file has been received.
Mr Bhachu said: 'In essence there are two cases.
But he said any future proceedings in relation to the allegations of a sexual offence would be in 'direct conflict' with the trial for outraging public decency.
He said: 'What is she? Is she a complainant, a co-defendant?'
District Judge Louise Balmain interrupted: 'She's not a co-defendant because she's accepted a caution.'
But Mr Bhachu replied: 'What she says is that the caution was administered in error - "I didn't consent because I was too drunk".

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