AN emergency care assistant accused of sexually assaulting a patient in an ambulance told police ‘nothing untoward’ happened, ‘just chatting’.

Marcus Gunn is on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with two counts of sexual assault which are alleged to have taken place on December 16, 2022 in West Oxfordshire.

The 58-year-old is accused of inappropriately touching a patient, who cannot be named for legal reasons, whilst she was being driven to the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.

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A jury heard he had allegedly penetrated the woman as well as exposing her breasts until the patient pretended to pass out.

Gunn, of Station Road, Fenny Compton, has denied the offences – telling police all touching was consensual and part of a medical assessment.

On Wednesday (June 12), the jury heard Gunn tell police that he ‘would have asked for consent’ for the medical assessment in the ambulance.

He said the woman had complained of shortness of breath and abdomen pain so he assessed her.

“I probably did use the stethoscope,” he said. “If I did that I would have asked for consent. My hearing is failing so I need every advantage.

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“Some do straight to the skin or over the t-shirt but I can’t because my hearing is getting worse so I need to do it on the skin.”

For the abdomen assessment, Gunn told police it was ‘from the belly button to the top of the public area’.

“If her jeans or pyjamas were stopping me from doing the assessment I would have asked her to pull them down a little but I’m not talking ankle level and we don’t do that, the patient does that”

He said that other than the medical assessment, the pair was ‘talking’ and ‘everything was normal’.

“Nothing untoward,” he told police. “Just chatting about the weather and the time of day.”

He also told police that the patient had allegedly seen him later on in the hospital and had ‘held his hand’ and ‘thanked him’.

“I said, ‘How are you getting on?’ and she actually held my hand and said, ‘Thank you for looking after me…thank you for being so nice to me and chatting to me on the way to the hospital,’ which is why when this [the allegations] came across I couldn’t understand it.”

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Gunn told police he had been an emergency care assistant for about three and a half years and had previously been a firefighter.

He said he had numerous qualifications prior to taking on the role.

The trial continues.