Traffic officer fondled breasts

Press, 16 August 1984, Page 6

Traffic officer fondled breasts

PA Hamilton A traffic officer fondled women’s breasts while giving instruction in the use of seat belts, the District Court at Hamilton has been told. Stuart Charles Chimside, aged 28, of Cambridge, appeared for trial before Judge Latham and a jury of seven men and five women on seven charges of indecent assault. Each charge was laid in the alternative of assault on a female. He was convicted on of. indecent found not guilty

on the remaining charges. The Judge remanded him on bail to August 30 for a probation report and sentence. The names of the complainants were suppressed. One complainant said .Chirnside had stopped her as she was driving home and told her to fasten her seatbelt The uniformed officer said that the belt was too loose and put his hand between her belt and chest, she said. He repeated the

several times and, on a couple of occasions, cupped his hand around her breast, she said. Chirnside had discussed injuries caused through not wearing seat belts and went into details about breast injuries, she said. She told the Court that Chirnside had then continued with more intimate details about her breasts and became rougher in his handling. Finally he left and she continued home where she reported the incident to her

father, she said. A second girl said that Chirnside had stopped her and said she was speeding. He then tested the seatbelt she was wearing. He had gone into details of breast injuries in accidents, she said. “He touched my breast all the time he was talking,” she said. “I was scared as it was the first time I had been stopped by a traffic officer.” Two other girls made simfiar allegations against Chimside.

The jury found Chimside not guilty on those counts. Another complainant said that Chirnside had indecently assaulted her when taking her for her driver’s licence. He had told her to park the car then explained to her about how to wear a seatbelt, she said. Chimside had touched her frequently during the demonstration, she said. “He was more involved with-jny breasts than the she said. r