News
North London 'bus sex assault man' cleared
A jury at the Old Bailey took just 30 minutes to clear Yehzkel Makowetzki of sexual assault
November 2, 2016 14:26![File photo of a London bus [Rossographer]](https://api.thejc.atexcloud.io/image-service/view/acePublic/alias/contentid/173mecj2v9t4abod2h1/0/file-photo-of-a-london-bus-rossographer.webp?f=16%3A9&w=3840&q=0.6)
By, JC Reporter
2 min read
A jury at the Old Bailey took just 30 minutes to clear Yehzkel Makowetzki of sexual assault
November 2, 2016 14:26ByJC Reporter, JC Reporter
An Orthodox Jew accused of touching an actress's bottom on the bus was cleared in just 30 minutes after insisting he was just moving his coat.
Yehzkel Makowetzki, 39, was accused of having used his clothing to hide his hand as he pressed it against the young woman’s body while she tried to read a theatre script.
The woman, in her late 20s, demanded 'Are you trying to touch me up?' prompting
the father-of-13 to apologise and move to another seat.
She photographed him with her mobile phone and told police he might be deliberately targeting women on the bus because he had sat next to her when there were plenty of empty seats.
Makowetzki said that he had been making on his way to the Adath Yisroel synagogue in Stoke Newington, north London on the 476 bus at the time of the alleged incident on 8 December.
My client is understandably delighted and relieved. Although it only took the jury 10 minutes to unanimously acquit him the whole process has taken almost a year
A jury at the Old Bailey took just 30 minutes to clear Makowetzki of sexual assault.
Speaking via a Hebrew interpreter Makowetski said he was just adjusting his coat to make himself more comfortable.
He said: 'We were both wearing coats and we were both uncomfortable so I moved it [his coat].
'She said "You touched me". I explained I had not, I had just moved my coat but I couldn't understand what she was saying.'
Makowetski maintained he did not deliberately sit next to the actress.
He also denied he found her attractive and said that he chose that seat because it had good views out of the front and sides of the bus so he knew when to get off.
Makowetzki said he deliberately left a space between himself and the woman 'so I could put my hand down [on the seat] to support myself.'
He told jurors: 'I lifted my coat and put my hand on the seat beside me because it was more comfortable for me,
'She said "You are trying to touch me". I was very upset that I was being suspected like that. She said something about moving and I didn't understand whether I was supposed to move or she was supposed to move.
'I said I am sorry and went to sit somewhere else.'
Makowetzki said he apologised 'because I saw that she didn't understand me' and insisted he had not done anything wrong.
He told the court: 'I was ashamed that she thought something, it upset me that I was suspected of something like that.'
In his closing speech Jeffrey Israel, defending, told jurors: 'You may think the prosecution have come nowhere near proving their case.
'If anything, you may think she has got the wrong end of the stick and I invite you to return that true verdict.'
Makowetzki, of Hackney, east London, denied sexual assault and was cleared.
Speaking after the verdict, defence lawyer Jeffrey Israel said: “My client is understandably delighted and relieved. Although it only took the jury 10 minutes to unanimously acquit him the whole process has taken almost a year.”
