An on-duty police constable sexually assaulted a woman by “back-handing” her in her private parts and later claimed his actions were intended as a joke, a court has heard.
Daniel Gentles, who jurors were told was no longer a police officer, is accused of assaulting the woman “out of the blue” in 2023, before showing her a meme of a man hitting a woman in a similar way.
Mr Gentles, then 19 and now 22, denies sexually assaulting the woman over her clothing during a shift in Warwickshire, Warwick Crown Court was told.
Prosecutor Matthew Barnes said Mr Gentles contacted the woman on social media to apologise, writing words similar to: “I thought it was a joke and you would do it back.”
Opening the Crown’s case on Thursday, Mr Barnes told a jury: “She alleges and he accepts that as she walked past him… when she was standing in front of and quite close to him, out of the blue he back-handed her quite deliberately.
“This touching of a sensitive part of the female body caused her only momentary pain but also distress.”
When Mr Gentles was interviewed under caution by police in November 2023, the court heard, he admitted being “immature” by swinging his right hand towards the woman, hitting her private parts and showing her the meme on his phone.
Mr Barnes said Mr Gentles told police “it was just a joke” but he understood “that it was not appropriate”.
The prosecutor added: “The touching was plainly sexual by its very nature… the prosecution suggests that he did not reasonably believe that she was consenting to such touching.”
The complainant in the case cannot be identified for legal reasons and gave evidence from behind a screen.
She told the court she was left feeling panicked after the alleged assault and had “never heard” of the meme Mr Gentles showed her.
Defence barrister Sharon Bahia asked the woman if the incident “took on a life of its own” after a third party reported it to police, and she had then exaggerated her account.
The complainant replied: “Absolutely not.”
She added: “I was scrambling for somebody to tell me it was wrong. I was laughing it off because I didn’t know what else to do.”
The trial continues.
