Paul Higgins
Today at 10:42
A judge told a serving PSNI officer he disgraced his uniform as he convicted him of twice sexually assaulting a colleague.
Robert Ferguson was found guilty on two charges of sexual assault at the end of a two-hour contest on Thursday.
District Judge Peter King said he was “satisfied beyond reasonable doubt” of the 34-year-old’s guilt of the two sexual assault charges.
Ordering the officer to stand, the Coleraine Magistrates’ Court judge told him: “You have, in my view, disgraced your uniform — and the ultimate sentence of this court will reflect that."
He adjourned passing sentence for a pre-sentence report.
Freeing Ferguson on bail, the judge warned him that, depending on the sentence, “the notification requirements” of the sex offenders’ register may apply.
Ferguson, whose address was given as c/o Coleraine PSNI station, was convicted on two counts of sexual assault, both committed on May 18, 2023.
Giving evidence, the victim recalled how she had been in the passenger seat of a police vehicle being driven by Ferguson when he made a comment about her appearance that “made me very uncomfortable”.
It was shortly after that, she told the court, when he reached over and put his left hand on her leg, close to her knee.
She told the court that Ferguson took his hand away and put it back on her leg several times, his hand getting higher each time, his fingers on her inner thigh and his thumb on the outside of her leg.
His hand got so high, said the officer, that at one point Ferguson was almost touching her equipment belt.
The victim said she pushed Ferguson’s hand away and made a comment to him that he was “touchy-feely” but that afterwards, she felt “very embarrassed and I felt very awkward” in the police vehicle.
“After that I very much wanted to get back to base, so that we were not alone in the car,” she told the Public Prosecution Service lawyer, adding that when they did get back to the station, the victim was “very angry” and that, as she walked into the staff room, she angrily declared to her colleagues: “See if he touches me one more time…”
At that point Ferguson walked in, which brought any conversation to an end.
Later, in the same shift, Ferguson and the victim were tasked to respond to another call-out. This time, said the officer, “I was very, very subdued. I wasn’t talking very much, giving one-word answers”.
Explaining how she pushed herself as far away from the driver’s seat as possible, she said: “I tried to give the impression that I was angry and wasn’t wanting to engage any further because of what happened previously.”
Ferguson, however, reached over and, as he grabbed the victim’s flak jacket and urged her to “oh, come on, try to get me to engage”, he touched her breast.
“He said: ‘Oh, I nearly touched a boob there.’ And I very angrily responded: ‘You did!’” she told the court, describing how after that incident “that was sort of the end of that conversation”.
The victim officer told the court that when she and Ferguson returned to base, she sat at her desk to do some work and to avoid any prospect of going back out with Ferguson on another call.
“What actions did you take in relation to his actions to you?” the lawyer asked. The victim replied: “I didn’t report it.”
“I was a few months into a new job, I was very embarrassed, and, on that particular shift, my section sergeants were not on duty,” said the officer, explaining that it was only when a chief inspector asked her about the incidents several months later that she made a formal statement of complaint.
During the cross-examination by defence counsel Neil Moore, it was suggested to the victim that, according to the defence case, “this never happened”.
The victim, however, told Mr Moore: “I disagree with Constable Ferguson’s version.”
The court heard how the complainant’s colleagues, and even the defendant, described the victim as “chatty, energetic and friendly”, but that when she entered the staff room after the first incident, she appeared “annoyed and angry”. Two officers gave evidence that they heard her comment about Ferguson touching her.
Giving evidence on his own behalf, Constable Ferguson simply made the case that nothing untoward had happened and there had been no touching of any kind.
He confirmed he had heard the prosecution case and the evidence of the victim and the witnesses, but when Mr Moore asked him if anything they alleged had happened, he told the barrister: “Absolutely not.”
Under cross-examination from the prosecutor, Constable Ferguson confirmed there was no “animosity” between him and the victim or any witness, and that, as far as he knew, “no one has an axe to grind”.
“So there’s no reason you can think of that [would explain why] she would make up such allegations,” said the lawyer, to which Ferguson agreed.
When the lawyer asked him if he remembered touching his colleague that day, he said: “No, because it didn’t happen.”
After convicting Ferguson, District Judge King said he would pass sentence on May 8.
by pickneyboy3000
5 comments
“And the ultimate sentence of this court will reflect that”, I doubt that very fucking much. Sex offenders get a slap on the wrist in NI, absolute joke.
I was sexually assaulted by a male officer, who had no body cam on, he kept grabbing my penis and testicles asking me where the drugs are and to give them to him
This was during a search on the side of a road where he made me pull my trousers down
I repeatedly told him to turn his body cam on and that what he is grabbing is not drugs, but in fact my cock
I made a police report detailing, had by statement took by police, They declined to prosecute due to no bodycam footage
jesus i really am a manchild i laughed at “one point Ferguson was almost touching her equipment belt”
And they wonder why they have issues with public trust and recruitment.
Filth, how do you adequately respond to a call with a work colleague repeatedly trying to grope you.
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