Jurors have retired to consider their verdicts in the trial of Frank Hollywell.
The 30-year-old is accused of sexually assaulting a female student as she sat in Bartlemas Road in the early hours of November 11 last year.
He was said to have touched the woman’s leg then thrust his hand beneath her knickers. Last week, the alleged victim said she ‘froze’.
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Another student, who was wearing a ‘squirrel’ costume, stopped to ask whether or not she was alright. He accompanied her back to her home.
The Good Samaritan told jurors that the woman informed him she had been ‘raped’, although this was not the allegation when the matter was reported to the police from her house.
Swabs taken from the woman showed no evidence of Hollywell’s DNA. However, a DNA expert said the evidence was ‘inconclusive’ and neither supported or refuted the allegation.
Hollywell, of Templar Road, Cutteslowe, has pleaded not guilty to an allegation of sexual assault by penetration and an alternative charge of sexual assault. He admitted meeting the woman but strenuously denied any form of ‘sexual advance’.
Sending the jury out to consider their verdicts at 1pm, Judge Maria Lamb said the 12-member panel was under no pressure of time.
She asked the jury to reach unanimous verdicts, or ones on which they are all agreed.
The trial continues.
This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire’s court and crime reporter.
To get in touch with him email: [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward
