A MAN accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a town centre nightclub has admitted kissing her but claimed he hadn’t taken things any further because they spoke different languages.
Herman Mendonca, who gave evidence through a Portuguese interpreter, said he and the woman had looked at each other in Tates nightclub and when he sat down next to her he had initially thought she spoke Portuguese.
However, he then realised she spoke English and found he couldn’t understand what she was saying.
“We were chatting and started kissing and then I went to dance,” Mendonca told a jury at Ipswich Crown Court.
“When we kissed it was quite quick and I don’t know how it happened.”
He claimed the woman had responded to the kiss and had not pushed him away. “I realised there wouldn’t be any point because of the language difference so I just left it,” said Mendonca.
Mendonca, 27, of Bramford Road, Ipswich, has denied sexual assault by penetration on September 4 last year. The trial continues today.
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