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Financier 'stripped woman who passed out after pub party'
Aline Nassif22 Jul 2009
Accused: Justin von Tunzelman denies sexual assault
An investment consultant stripped and groped a "comatose" woman after a canapés and cocktails party, a court heard.
Justin von Tunzelman allegedly spotted her slumped in a pub alcove following a two-hour drinking session.
In that time she had downed several champagne cocktails, including a number of bellinis and a kir royale, followed by five or six "slippery nipple" shots of Baileys and vodka.
Some time later he was allegedly seen fondling her after her wrap-over top had apparently been "pushed up".
Friends later bundled her into a rickshaw, took her back to their office, put her on to a chair and wheeled her into a side room to sleep off the evening's excesses.
Southwark crown court heard yesterday the defendant, who works for a Piccadilly-based asset management firm, went along for the ride, and within minutes of the woman being left on her own, joined her when no one was looking.
One of her workmates later claimed she spotted him with his arm draped across her unconscious friend's shoulder.
Lesley Jones, prosecuting, said it was the Crown's case that despite being ordered to leave he not only stayed where he was but undressed himself and stripped his victim.
The barrister alleged von Tunzelman had clearly "been doing something of a sexual nature. "We cannot say what was being done to her. She cannot say either as she was unconscious."
However, she did not raise the alarm until the following day after recovering at a friend's home and learning what friends had allegedly seen.
"I was shocked and just felt disgusted and scared," she later recalled, adding that after telling her husband he insisted she inform police.
Giving evidence from behind a screen the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court she had no recollection of her alleged ordeal.
Von Tunzelman, of Catford, denies two counts of sexual assault last summer. The trial continues.
