Last updated at 13:24, Thursday, 08 April 2010

A TEENAGE girl has appeared in court via video-link to giveevidence against a doctor accused of sexual assault.

IN COURT: Bajrang Sigh at Preston Crown Court yesterday

Bajrang Singh, a doctor at Furness General Hospital, is alleged to have twice kissed the 16-year-old on the shoulder and once on the cheek on a train journey. The 34-year-old doctor, of St Annes Close, Lincoln, denies a charge of sexual assault relating to June 30 last year.

The girl gave evidence yesterday on the second day of a trial at Preston Crown Court. Before she gave evidence, a video-recorded witness interview with the police was played to the court.

In it, the girl said she had been to the cinema with friends, before going to Lancaster station for a train home that evening. She sat down on a platform bench and a stranger – the defendant – sat down nearby and began talking to her. The girl said he went on to say something like “You look alright tonight”. She said he was talking to her and when the train pulled into the station, she tried to get away from him.

Singh ended up sat next to her on the train. The girl said during the train ride the defendant mentioned he was a doctor. He asked her how old she was and is alleged to have told her he was 26 years old.

The teenager said while she had hold of her mobile phone, Singh put a hand around her phone and started pulling the hand away. He then held her hand “like a palm reader”. During the interview, she became tearful as she said: “He flicked my hair, then he kissed my shoulder”. The girl added he tried to pull her cheek towards him, and she pulled away, but he kissed her on the cheek. She said he then kissed her again on the shoulder.

When the train got to Arnside, the girl said Singh asked if she thought it was alright for a girl and boy of 16 to have sex. She said she tried to stop talking to him. The teenager told police: “He kept pestering me for my phone number and email address. He said he would give me his email address.”

He gave her a piece of paper, which she said she threw on the train tracks when she got off the train. The girl said she ran down the platform and had started crying when she arrived at Grange. In her evidence to the court, via a videolink system, the teenager said she “just froze”, not knowing what to do after Singh started talking to her. She spoke of him taking hold of her hand “like a palm reader”, saying things about what he saw.

“For most of the journey, he had his hand on my hand,” she said. The girl also said the defendant asked her for a kiss, but she had refused, saying “No, I’m not kissing you”. She said Singh told her he was going to Ulverston. The teenager described his behaviour as “forceful” and said she had not consented to any of it.

Miss Farrhat Arshad, defending said Singh accepted he was the man she had been talking to that day. He accepted having had a conversation with her, but denied doing anything sexual and said he did not kiss her on the cheek or shoulder. The girl disagreed with a suggestion he had actually said to her “Are you alright?” rather than “You look alright tonight”. The girl accepted at no point had she told Singh she didn’t want to talk.

Miss Arshad told the girl the defendant did not accept asking her age or saying that he was 26.

The court has heard Singh told police he was “just a very friendly man” and talked to lots of people and she had asked him to read her palm.

The trial continues today.

First published at 13:13, Thursday, 08 April 2010
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk