A man accused of groping five women’s bottoms told jurors: “In the words of Shaggy: ‘It wasn’t me.’”

Artig Emmanuel, 24, is said to have slapped or touched four women in Didcot on the night of November 10, 2020, then approached another woman walking home from work two nights later – asked if she wanted a kiss and touched her backside.

Giving evidence in his own defence, the qualified engineer said on Friday: “I’m a nice guy. I believe in respecting people.”

He reassured the jury: “I think women should be able to walk around the streets and not fear any threat of assaults.

“I think it should be safe for women to be able to walk around the streets. Women have to worry about this stuff all the time. I think women shouldn’t have to worry about this stuff.”

From the witness stand, where he was both cross-examined and gave his closing submissions to the jury, he variously quoted the title of Shaggy’s 2000 hit single ‘It Wasn’t Me’, rapper Skepta’s ‘That’s Not Me’ and cited the words of Old Testament ‘wise guy’ King Solomon: “What is lacking cannot be counted.”

He accused the prosecution of making assumptions to cover ‘missing evidence’, with no CCTV showing him actually committing the alleged assaults and no DNA evidence found linking him to the sexual touching.

“If you are making an assumption the evidence is missing. That’s reasonable doubt,” he told the jury.

Previously, the jury heard how he was stopped by police on November 13, after a series of reports of women being approached and sexually assaulted by a black man in central Didcot over the previous few days. He matched the description given by a woman allegedly touched the night before, who said her attacker was around 6ft, a black male and was wearing a blue hooded top.

The day after he was stopped, he went to the police station to confess to touching the women. In an interview the following month he confirmed what he said in that confession was true.

Emmanuel told the jury the confession was not true and he had only made it in order to prevent the police’s appeal for a black man allegedly assaulting women in Didcot from continuing to appear on the news. He had feared for his and his family’s safety as a result of the description matching his being circulated.

The defendant said: “What it did achieve [was] they stopped putting it on the news.”

Directing the jury on the law, Judge Nigel Daly said that when they were considering the ‘apparent confession’ the panel should ‘have regard to all the circumstances’ in which the confession was made.

Emmanuel, of Blackthorn Road, Didcot, denies five counts of sexual touching. The jury heard that, following the 2020 incidents, he was convicted of approaching a female dog walker in Wantage and grabbing her in 2021.  

The trial continues.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward