A former Ashurst lawyer has been accused of lifting up a woman's skirt, slapping her bum and calling her an "Australian slut".

Alastair Main is accused of sexually assaulting the 27-year-old at Putney's London Rowing Club last December. Prosecutor Ruth Alabaster told Wimbledon Magistrates' Court that Main pulled up the woman's skirt "and hit her on the bum". She said he also poured a pint over the woman's head, which he has admitted, and that earlier in the evening "he called her an Australian slut". Alabaster said the case would turn on CCTV footage.

    Isn't most of this just what rowers do?

35-year-old Main attended Nottingham Law School and qualified at Ashurst, joining Coutts after four years as an associate. He now works at an asset management company. A talented oarsman, Main represented England at the Home International Regatta in 2003 and won the Thames Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. He has pleaded not guilty.
Tip Off ROF

Comments

Anonymous 19 August 16 08:33

If it's true it's unsavoury but even so it seems a minor thing to ruin someone's life and career over.

Anonymous 19 August 16 12:18

It's a sexual assault? If he was a labourer he'd take his punishment, and go back to work. That's unlikely to happen for him (which seems to be what anonymous at 07.33 is saying). But he works in an industry where that sort of thing isn't tolerated. The impact on his life will be much greater, which he should have known. If you're a pilot turning up to work drunk is different than if you're a gardener.

It's a "minor thing" he shouldn't have done.

What next? Letting rapists off if they're good at swimming? Wait.....

Anonymous 19 August 16 16:42

anon 19/08/2016 07:33: Minor thing!? Lifting up a lady's skirt in public is minor? It's comments like yours that show how misogynistic the legal industry still is.

Anonymous 20 August 16 02:32

Let us change genders - a woman slapping a man on the bum and calling him a slut.
Are you as righteously outraged at her as you are the man in the article? You can pretend, but I bet you are not. The industry is not misogynistic; it is misandrist.

Anonymous 20 August 16 17:52

Lovely presumption of guilt here. Also a worrying amount of playing down this type of conduct.

Anonymous 21 August 16 21:53

She must have really annoyed him as it is not something an intelligent person would do lightly and she should therefore take it on the chin in a manner of speaking like a man.