A drunken schoolteacher, accused of groping the woman sitting next to him during a theatre performance, told a jury today: “I can’t remember touching anyone’s leg.”
Irishman Charles Maxwell, 53, of Elizabeth House, Exeter Close, Watford had downed a bottle of wine during the interval despite also taking anti-depressants at the time.
He has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the woman at a performance of ‘Amadeus’ at the Olivier Theatre on London’s South Bank on November 5, last year.
Inner London Crown Court heard witnesses say Maxwell, who teaches English at the jewish Yavneh College, Borehamwood also fiddled with his trousers, which were hanging off him when he stood up.
“I was probably moving my trousers because the button way cutting into my stomach,” he told the jury. “For someone of my size I’m forever adjusting my posture in the seat.”
He told the jury he reluctantly agreed to join work colleagues at the performance when encouraged to socialise after his wife left him and returned to Belfast.
“I did not want to go and I buckled under the pressure,” explained Maxwell, who returned from the interval with a large glass of wine in each hand.
“It was to knock myself out,” he said, insisting he did not recall repeatedly touching the thigh of the “slim, attractive lady” to his right.
“Maybe I was asleep and it was an involuntary action. I did not know who was sitting beside me, did not have a clue until she came into court, I had not seen her.
“I don’t think this lady would lie, I don’t dispute that. I just don’t recall it at all.
“I don’t have any recollection of putting my hand on any woman’s leg, but I don’t dispute it happened.”
When asked if his trousers were hanging off because he was getting “excited sexually” Maxwell replied: “That’s impossible. My body doesn’t react in that way anymore.”
On top of the alcohol and medication the teacher said he also just discovered his estranged wife had been rushed to hospital, explaining his abusive reaction to being accused in the theatre.
“I snapped, sorry. They verbally accused me and I was trying to fight my corner.
“It was the worst time of my life. I thought my wife was dying.”
He apologised for his conduct towards the complainant and her friends and for shouting: “Get that f***ing c*** here.”
“I had no idea why they were screaming in my face and in my heightened emotional state I hope people understand that I was angered,” he told the jury.
His estranged wife told the jury the couple enjoyed theatre trips when they were together, with Maxwell holding her hand or touching her thigh during the performance.
Trial continues……….
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