I didn't attack woman, ex-school pal tells court

AN Inverness man accused of assaulting a woman by throwing her down stairs compressing her throat and slamming a door against her head and on kitchen worktops has denied the attack ever took place .

Giving evidence before a jury at Inverness Sheriff Court, Andrew McNeil claimed 22 year-old Shelli Park punched him in the face first in her darkened bedroom.

He claimed he was lying on her bed drunk and fully clothed and she tried to take off his trousers and underpants.

The attack is alleged to have happened at Ms Park’s parents home in Westfield Avenue. They were away for the evening.

The pair, who were former school friends met up outside Love2Love after a night out in Inverness.

Ms Park in her evidence in the trial earlier this week told the jury McNeil had urinated on her bedroom rug after falling asleep and she tried to take off his jeans to wash them and give him a pair of tracksuit bottoms.

But she said he was "having none of it". She went back to bed and fell asleep and minutes later McNeil punched her and the assault took place.

She claimed she was dragged by her hair from the room thrown down the stairs. It is alleged a sequence of events in the attack followed where she had her throat compressed on the stair, she had a door slammed against her head and her head was banged off worktops in the kitchen.

Police described how they found Park "hysterical" and with no shoes on in the snow at 2.45am bloodied and bruised after she had made two 999 calls which were played in court.

McNeil was acquitted after the Crown evidence yesterday of charges of wilfully damaging a TV, DVD player, ceiling light and punching a hole in a wall and behaving in a threatening abusive manner towards Ms Park on November 28, 2010.

But he still faces the charge of assault – an assault he claimed never happened.

McNeil (24) of Glendoe Terrace told the jury he didn’t urinate on himself. And he went downstairs after she punched him.

Blood on his clothing he said must have been transferred when he tried to help Ms Park when she fell down the stairs but she pushed him away.

"She was bleeding from the mouth. She said she was going to call the police," McNeil told his solicitor Marc Dickson.

"I said I’m not going anywhere," he said.

McNeil admitted he had to be roused by the police in the hallway when they arrived.

Asked by Mr Dickson how he felt he replied: "A bit upset. I didn’t know how the police were going to look at it.

"I have nothing to hide," he said.