Ex-Celtic star Paddy McCourt's alleged victim 'felt someone put hand up her dress' court hears

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Former Celtic FC star Paddy McCourt put his hand up the rear of his alleged victim's dress in a bar, she has claimed.McCourt, who also played for the Northern Ireland national team, denies putting his hand up the woman’s skirt from behind and touching her bottom.The 39-year-old, of Wheatfield Court in Muff, Co Donegal, denies the incident took place at Bar 57 in Waterloo Street in the centre of Derry just after midnight on January 30, 2022.The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told a contested hearing at Bishop Street Magistrate’s Court that the alleged incident occurred “when I was a bit tipsy, I’d had a few drinks” and she said it had left her both "shocked and traumatised".In her evidence before before District Judge Ted Magill she said she had gone to the nightspot and consumed several gins, after drinking "several cocktails" at a friend's house.She said: “I was just in the bar and I just felt someone put their hand up the rear of my dress and underneath my underwear.

I was really scared and in shock because you don’t expect when you go out to a bar that someone would do that and I didn’t give anyone permission to touch me in that manner.”The witness said she turned and saw McCourt.

She told the court: “I’d never seen him before or knew who he was."She said she made a statement to the police later that evening after confiding in her parents, and then made a second statement a week later in after changing her mind about the timing of the alleged incident.The woman said she’d mistakenly used the word “hands” rather than a hand touching her in texts to her friends, and in her initial police statement.