28 Jun 2016
Change of plea in Guildford sex assault case after interpreter error
A man accused of two sex attacks in Guildford has
changed his plea in relation to one of the allegations.
Cirilio Marciano Dos Santos, 23, of Barrack Road, Guildford,
pleaded guilty earlier this month to a charge of sexual assault following an
incident at Guildford railway station on May 3, 2015.
However,
at Guildford Crown Court on Monday (June 27), he changed his plea to not
guilty.
James Bloomer, defending, said his client had
mistakenly admitted the alleged offence two weeks ago because he was unable to
understand his Indonesian interpreter.
Mr Dos Santos’s trial, which was due to start
this week, has been postponed until August 8 to enable an interpreter
specialising in the defendant’s East Timor dialect to be hired.
Mr Bloomer said at the previous hearing, the
interpreter on that occasion had spoken a different dialect to that of Mr Dos
Santos.
“My client had difficulty understanding,"
he said. "It was a language with which he is not familiar."
Mr Dos Santos has previously denied a second
count of assault by penetration relating to an incident in the alleyway between
Woodbridge Road and Woodbridge Meadows on June 29 last year.
No comments:
Post a Comment