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A prominent solicitor will stand trial after allegedly sexually assaulting a female during an alcohol-fuelled night out with friends in Melbourne’s CBD.
Glenn Thexton, 43, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court this week, where his barrister Dermot Dann, KC, argued the case should be dismissed due to a lack of evidence.
Lawyer Glenn Thexton arriving Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.Credit: Justin McManus
But Magistrate Brett Sonnet disagreed and committed the lawyer to trial in the County Court of Victoria at a later date.
On the night of the alleged offending in September 2021, Thexton was outside a kebab shop on King Street where police say he grabbed a female on the buttocks as he walked past her.
Police claim the lawyer spent the evening drinking with friends and colleagues when witnesses reported him stumbling intoxicated through the streets.
Crown prosecutor Francesca Holmes told the court the alleged sexual assault happened about 10.45pm, after Thexton had left a King Street strip club with another man to buy cigarettes at a 7-Eleven next to the kebab shop.
The female told police Thexton grabbed her buttocks with force and sexual intent.
Dann said his client, in an attempt to prove his innocence, went to the extent of obtaining his own report from an RMIT university expert, who analysed video from a CCTV camera in the area. That report, Dann said, found it was impossible to determine if contact had been made.
Dann said in order for contact to have occurred at all, his client – who denies the offending – would have had less than a second to touch the victim while walking past.
“You have in this case abundant evidence that Mr Thexton was stumbling around. Witnesses described Thexton … moving his arms around,” Dann said.
“If you’re dealing with a split-second touching, less than half a second … you could never be satisfied … that it was intentional.”
Barrister Dermot Dann, KC, is representing Thexton.Credit: Justin McManus
Throughout Wednesday’s hearing, Thexton was repeatedly admonished by the magistrate for interrupting the proceedings by talking to his barrister. He appeared to struggle to remain seated throughout the hearing.
“Mr Thexton, please be seated, you’re being represented by very experienced legal counsel,” Sonnet said.
“You’re not permitted to interrupt the proceedings. That’s the second time you’ve done that. Sit down Mr Thexton, let Mr Dann do his job.”
During witness testimony, a friend of the victim said she recalled leaving King Street’s Cloud Nine nightclub when one of her friends developed a headache.
Criminal solicitor Glenn Thexton.Credit: Thexton Lawyers YouTube
She said they walked to the nearby 7-Eleven about 8.30pm, where a man they allege was Thexton was seen stumbling around, which made them feel uncomfortable.
Later, the witness said she and more of her friends again gathered on King Street when one of the females suddenly became distressed and pointed in the same man’s direction.
The man who left the strip club with Thexton, Shawn Mathis, said he failed to see any interaction between the accused man and the victim as he was instead talking to a homeless woman about her dog.
King Street’s Spearmint Rhino strip club was one of the venues police gathered CCTV footage from during their investigation.Credit: Joe Armao
Police later gathered CCTV footage from safe city cameras and strip club Spearmint Rhino as part of their investigation. They also collected Thexton’s fingerprints.
When asked why police didn’t obtain CCTV footage from the kebab shop where the offending was alleged to have occurred, police said the owner was combative and told them his cameras were not working.
Holmes maintained the victim was adamant she was groped in a sexual way.
“She had no question in her mind that was the nature of the touch she felt.”
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