A female manager at a City educational publishers followed a drunken woman colleague into a pub’s toilet, where she sexually assaulted her in the cubicle, a court heard.
Senior digital project manager Lumiere Chieh, 31, insists the encounter at The Sea Horse pub, near the company’s Blackfriars office was consensual.
However, the complainant told an Inner London Crown Court jury: “I have had flashbacks of her putting her hand down my pants.
“I think I was too drunk to consent.”
Openly gay/bisexual Chieh, of Spring Vale Terrace, Hammersmith has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexually assaulting the woman on April 28, last year.
The incident resulted in her being sacked from the company, an industry leader in the educational field.
The complainant said she was sitting on the toilet when she suddenly became aware of Chieh standing in front of her.
However, the defendant insists the woman gave her a “nod” to enter the cubicle and when she kissed her the complainant kissed her back.
“I suddenly became aware of what was happening, that we were kissing,” added the woman.
“I remember my trousers being down and her hand being there.”
When asked if she recalled touching Chieh herself, she replied: “I can’t remember that.”
Chieh insists the woman was a willing participant until the moment she said: “Too much,” which ended the encounter.
The complainant, who describes herself as straight, denied “feeling bad” about Chieh then spending the rest of the works drinks night in the company of another woman.
The rest of her colleagues quickly heard about what happened, but the woman insisted this did not embarrass her.
In a phone conversation the next day with Chieh the woman told the court the defendant described her behaviour as “predatory.”
“She did say that. It stuck in my mind. I remember her clearly saying her actions may have seemed predatory.”
That night on the same staircase from the downstairs toilet Chieh exchanged kisses with another female colleague and they quickly became a couple.
That colleague told the jury six weeks after they began dating Chieh confessed she had “hooked up” with another woman the night they met.
The complainant told the court her working relationship with the defendant suffered and Chieh was sacked after a grievance was raised with Human Resources after an office incident.
“She came into my space at work. I found it extremely distressing.”
The woman confirmed she did not report Chieh to the police until it was suggested by Human Resources.
The defence suggest this was done to bolster their own internal disciplinary proceedings.
Trial continues………..
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