Ex-Neighbours star ‘sexually touched woman standing behind him in pub while buying a drink’ as shock CCTV revealed
FORMER Neighbours star Scott McGregor sexually assaulted a women while waiting to buy a drink, a court was told.
The 41-year-old played police detective Mark Brennan in the iconic Australian soap for eight years and prosecutors claim CCTV footage shows the alleged incident.
Melbourne Magistrates’ Court was told police had obtained footage from behind the bar of the city’s Hotel Esplanade.
Images show the top half of McGregor as he stood at the bar about 8pm on Sunday, February 20 last year, the court heard.
But his barrister Carly Marc said footage did not actually contain any visual evidence supporting the charge.
“He’s looking forward the entire time,” she said.
The lawyer told the court important footage was “incomplete”, including video that showed the incident from behind and below the waistline.
“There are obviously other cameras that exist,” she told the court.
Cameras positioned at the rear of the bar probably captured footage that would have exonerated her client, she argued.
The prosecution then told the court that police returned to the Hotel Esplanade but the footage that would have captured the alleged incident from behind was “now unavailable”.
Ms Marcs also told the court that there would be an issue as to whether the touching was “sexual for the purposes of the legislation”.
McGregor, who denies the sexual assault charges, appeared a video link dressed in a blazer.
Magistrate Belinda Franjic adjourned the hearing until July 14 with a two-day contested hearing scheduled for August.
McGregor first appeared in Neighbours in 2010, but left in 2011 to pursue other acting projects.
He returned to Ramsay Street in 2013 for a guest stint before coming back as a regular cast member in 2014.
In total he starred in 940 episodes but was absent from the show’s farewell episode, which featured Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan earlier this year.
McGregor is married to Bianka Voigt and the couple have two young daughters together.