A man has been found guilty of carrying out a sexual assault on a woman as she stood at the bar of a Peterhead nightclub.
Tomas Bartnykas, 40, reached under his victim’s dress before penetrating her with his fingers against her will, Peterhead Sheriff Court heard.
Bartnykas’ victim told police about the incident, which took place at Viva’s Bar and Nightclub in 2022, because she would have never forgiven herself if Bartnykas did it to someone else.
Giving evidence on Tuesday morning by video link, the woman – who cannot be named for legal reasons – told the jury she had been out drinking with friends on the evening in question.
‘I just froze’
At about 1am, while at the bar in Vivas, she danced with two men before feeling one of them place his hand on her back and then moving it under her dress and moving her underwear.
Fighting back tears, she said: “I just froze.
“I was trying to push them off me. It just all happened really fast after that.”
She added that the attack happened in “a couple of seconds” before bar staff became aware.
Fiscal depute Ruaridh McAllister asked the woman why she did not immediately contact police on the night of incident.
She told the court it was only after speaking to friends and family she realised the seriousness of the issue. She would eventually give a statement for constables on May 11.
She said: “At first I didn’t want to. It’s a very stressful thing to go through.
“If something else happened to someone else, I would never forgive myself. My friends encouraged me to come forward.”
Under cross-examination by Bartnykas’ defence agent, Iain Jane, she also denied suggestions that the incident was consensual.
“There was never anything that would suggest that was okay for him to do,” she said.
“I never ever said you could touch me.”
Questioned why she appeared to be hugging the man, understood to be Bartnykas, in the footage, she likened it to a defence mechanism.
She said: “I’m maybe trying to be friendly with him and he’ll maybe go away.”
Bar staff raised the alarm
Two women who were working at the club that evening also gave evidence.
Emma McCrave said she remembered seeing the woman being touched on the hips and then contact moving “further down”.
“She pressed against the bar. She jilted,” she said.
“It was almost a look of fear. It made me think something’s not right.”
Tulisa McCreave also described the scene at the bar.
“She kind of looked a bit uncomfortable,” she said. “I didn’t know what happened.”
It took the jury less than two hours to reach their verdict – guilty by majority.
Sheriff Craig Findlater, who presided over the case, thanked them for their service and deferred sentencing on Bartnykas, of Clerkhill Place, in the town, until next month.
Before dismissing him, he warned Bartnykas that all options were still on the table.
“You should understand, and as no doubt Mr Jane has discussed with you previously, all sentencing powers are available to the court,” the sheriff said.