Joseph Dawson, 27, was seen splashing around in his boxer shorts lifting, dunking and playfully slapping the rear’s of female prison officers during the all-day pool party on July 24, 2021.
Prosecutor Kathryn Hirst told Croydon Crown Court Dawson and the complainant sat on a two-seater outdoor couch on the patio opposite prison officer Vedan Bolaky, 41, and her husband Keith Sowerby, 63.
“They noticed him putting his hand down her bikini top and massaging her breast and then putting his hand down her bikini bottom. They made eye contact and he quickly removed his hand.
“Shortly afterwards the complainant is seen on all fours being pushed upstairs by this defendant and some of the female guests ‘headed him off at the pass’ and made sure nothing happened.”
Mr Sowerby told the jury the celebration was also a surprise birthday party for his wife - a HMP Wandsworth prison officer - and he noted Dawson’s behaviour.
“I did feel he was a shark in the pool and felt his behaviour was a bit predatory. He was manhandling the women, lifting them up and throwing them about.
“I was not impressed and I was the only sober person there as I do not drink,” he added, finding himself seated opposite Dawson and the complainant at around midnight.
“She was very drunk and he was helping her up onto the deck and she was flopping all over the place,” explained Mr Sowerby. “She sort of flopped across his chest.
“I saw Mr Dawson’s hand inside her bikini top massaging her right breast for about twenty to thirty seconds and she was out cold.
“He slipped his hand down her stomach and inside the band of her bikini at the top. He realised he was being watched, I think, and pulled his hand out.
“She sprang up and was all over the place. I think she woke up and realised something wasn’t quite right.”
He later witnessed Dawson trying to get the woman upstairs. “She was on all fours and he had his hand on her bottom, pushing her up the stairs.
“I alerted people to get upstairs and keep an eye on her because he had been groping her on the patio. I know a full-on grope when I see it, it was out of order.
“As far as I am concerned she was unconscious. She was not aware of what was going on and it was not consensual.”
His wife, Vedan Bolaky, told the trial: “There was a female member of staff he lifted up and she said: ’No, no, no,’ and he threw her into the water.
“Later I saw the complainant was drunk and was not really able to speak and Mr Dawson’s hand was near her breast area, the hand was inside.
“Then his hand was over the border of her bikini bottoms.”
Party host Jessie Thorpe, whose overground pool was enjoyed by her fellow HMP Wandsworth officers, said: “He was very touchy feely with the girls in the pool. One girl was leaning over the side and he slapped her bum.”
She did not witness the patio incident, but later saw Dawson upstairs when the complainant was passed out in the main bedroom.
By now the drunken female prison officer was somehow naked. “I was concerned for her so I slept on top of the covers next to her.”
The complainant has no memory of the incidents, having consumed three-quarters of a litre of vodka, plus shots at the party hosted by a colleague for mainly Echo Wing staff.
Describing Dawson, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault between July 24 and 25, 2021, she said: “He was quite a touchy person, he was known for that, but not in a strange way.
“He would hug the girls and pick them up.”
She brought a variety of bikini’s for the overground pool party. “He said that one was particularly nice and I should put it on.
“I think he said something about my bum looking nice in it, I think he slapped my bum. I was not annoyed, but didn’t like him doing it.”
Recalling little of the later evening she explained: “I was drinking vodka, I think. I came with a bottle of vodka and I did not see it after that and it was only me drinking it.
“The host, Jessie Thorpe said: ‘Drink as much as you want, I have loads of spare rooms,’ and that is why I drove there.”
Dawson claims she consented to him touching her breasts while they were in the pool and spread her legs towards him, allowing him to touch her intimately.
Sobbing behind a screen as she was cross-examined the prison officer insisted: “I wouldn’t let him do that to me. I don’t think it happened.”
She also denied pushing her breasts into Dawson’s face when they returned to the patio area.
The defendant says she consented to touching and allowed him to kiss her neck during the party, admitting he touched her breast in front of a couple on the patio, but over her bikini.
Ms Thorpe admitted Dawson’s behaviour was “hot gossip” at HMP Wandsworth the following day.
Dawson has suggested the complainant made the sexual assault allegation to cover-up her own consensual behaviour - particularly as she had recently started dating another prison officer.
Prosecutor Ms Hirst added: “These were mostly all prison officers at the party at the home of a colleague, who had an overground pool in the back garden.
“Everybody was enjoying themselves and having a good time and at various stages the complainant got into the pool and Mr Dawson got in the pool with her and picked her up and slapped her bottom, which she describes as playful.
“He was very intent on her wearing a bikini and she was wearing a flimsy bikini and was entitled to do that and to have a good time.
“She had a lot to drink and she was very, very drunk. She drank an awful lot and had northing to eat and was so drunk she has no recollection of what happened to her.”
When the woman’s prison officer colleagues told her what happened the next day she reported Dawson to the police.
Dawson, of St. Catherines Court, Rosefield Road, Staines-upon-Thames made no comment when questioned.
Trial continues…………
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