Bramble - assault charge woman was 'flirty'

LONDON (AFP) –

Sunderland‘s English defender Titus Bramble (R) is challenged by Liverpool‘s Dutch forward Dirk Kuyt during an English Premier League match in Sunderland, north-east England, in March 2011. Bramble has claimed the woman who accused him of sexual assault kissed him and acted in a flirty manner as they shared a taxi from a nightclub.

Sunderland defender Titus Bramble has claimed the woman who accused him of sexual assault kissed him and acted in a flirty manner as they shared a taxi from a nightclub.

Bramble is on trial accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a taxi from the Cross Keys nightclub in Yarm, northeast England, and also grabbing another woman’s bottom in the same venue.

The 30-year-old former Newcastle and Wigan star denies all four charges and told a court the woman put her hand on his crotch during the taxi journey and at no point did she tell him to stop.

Bramble also said the woman had flirted with him and kissed him in an alley outside the club before they got a cab.

“She was paying me a lot of attention,” he told the jury at Teesside Crown Court. “She was touching me and I put my hand on her leg. We were kissing. We kissed a couple of times passionately.”

Bramble said he was “quite drunk” on the night he was arrested, having had six vodka and diet Cokes.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said to him: “In drink, you thought your fame would let you do what you wanted to do.”

The player replied: “No, I didn’t”.

Bramble said he “enjoys” the female attention that comes with his high-profile role and being recognised on a night out was “part of the job”.

The court has already heard evidence from both complainants, with the second woman claiming she felt someone grope her bottom and turned to see Bramble “smirking”, which made her “very uncomfortable”.

She reported the incident after the other woman claimed she was assaulted in a taxi by the Sunderland star on September 28 last year.

She told the jury that during the journey Bramble put his hand up her dress without her consent and twice forced her hand on to his groin, which made her “really scared”.

Taxi driver Abid Hussain said on Tuesday he felt the woman, whose identity cannot be reported for legal reasons, “needed help” so he diverted to Stockton police station.

The alleged victim locked herself in a toilet and Bramble, of Wynyard near Middlesbrough, was arrested.

The case continues.