Warning: This story contains a description of sexual assault

A Dunedin man who groped a woman on her way home from the gym has been found guilty of indecent assault.

A jury trial at the Dunedin District Court this week heard Max Christopher Garden, 27, sat under a tree outside the Unipol gym for about half an hour, as he claimed he was “deciding what to have for dinner”.

On December 1, CCTV footage captured the man sitting on a bench before leaving the area when two women walked past him.

He followed the women “quite closely”, the court heard, before returning to the same bench on the university campus.

At 4.55pm a woman wearing headphones walked past the defendant on her way home from the gym.

He got up from the bench a second time and began walking behind her in Union St.

Footage from multiple buildings pieced together the path the pair took, with the defendant following close behind the woman.

No cameras captured what happened next, but the jury heard Garden quickly overtook the woman, simultaneously “grabbing” her bottom.

“I felt a whole hand on my butt. I thought it was my boyfriend at the time ... but I knew he was at the library so it wasn’t him,” the woman said.

“No one else would grab me like that.”

The woman took out her phone and filmed the man quickly walking away.

She called out to him: “What did you just do?”, but the man continued walking.

“I tried to call out to him and got no response, so I became quite upset.”

With support from a friend, the victim tried to find out who the man was, heading to Campus Watch for help.

Campus Watch compiled video evidence and police were informed.

Garden did not deny he was the man in the CCTV footage, but counsel Karlena Lawrence said “whatever physical contact [there was] was accidental”.

When asked if she misinterpreted the situation, the victim was resolute.

“I felt his whole hand on me,” she said.

Garden denied any deliberate contact in an interview with police: “It can’t be the crime of the century is it?”

When asked why he was lingering around the area he said: “It’s a free country”.

The Crown encouraged the jury to reject his account as “inherently implausible”, while the defence said “she simply misinterpreted what happened”.

Garden is on bail, awaiting sentencing on August 9.

SEXUAL HARM

Where to get help:
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:
• Call 0800 044 334
• Text 4334
• Email [email protected]
• For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nz
Alternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.
If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault.