By TONY WALL
A police officer wept uncontrollably in the High Court at Auckland last night as a jury found him not guilty of sexually violating a brain-damaged former neighbour but guilty of assaulting her.
Andrew Richard Barlow, 31, a rookie police constable portrayed during the trial as a Jekyll and Hyde character who had the victim "in his sights", burst into tears when the guilty verdict was read. The jury deliberated for seven hours.
Barlow was cleared of sexually violating and sexually assaulting the 47-year-old woman, who lived in the flat upstairs from the St Johns home he shared with his wife, Sabina, and their two children.
Justice John Priestly remanded him on bail to his new home in Mt Maunganui, and he will be sentenced next month.
Sobbing loudly, Barlow was led from the dock to the public gallery, where his wife and other family members hugged him.
Last night his lawyers, Peter Kaye and Roger Chambers, said the outpouring reflected the incredible strain he had been under since his arrest in January.
The Police Commissioner would decide whether Barlow, who has been suspended on full pay since the incident last December 28, could stay in the police.
Barlow, who grew up in Samoa, was previously a woodturner and joined the police in 1998.
The victim, who has had two aneurisms removed from her brain and suffered head injuries in a motor accident in 1998, suffered a mild seizure while giving her evidence.
She became progressively fatigued and her language became fractured and confused as she spoke of the alleged attack.
The court heard that the woman moved into the unit in October last year. Barlow considered her a friend; she said she felt uncomfortable because he was always turning up unannounced and turning the conversation to sex.
She said Barlow talked about sex toys, sex acts he had seen while working as a police officer, and even described how he had once had sex with a burglary complainant.
She said Barlow seemed sympathetic about her head injuries, saying he had an uncle who had suffered brain damage after an assault.
The Weekend Herald understands he was referring to John Timmins, the Auckland lawyer bashed and left for dead in an Onehunga industrial estate in 2000.
The woman told the court that on the evening of December 28, after she had gone to bed, Barlow came to her flat. She said he began giving her a massage despite her pleas to stop, made her lie on a bed and fondled her breasts. She said she tried to run but Barlow chased her, pinned her to a wall and sexually violated her with his finger.
He only stopped when she squeezed his genitals as hard as she could, she said.
Barlow said the woman had asked him and his wife up for a Christmas drink. His wife went out clubbing with a friend, he said, so he went upstairs to tell the woman they would not be coming over.
She invited him inside, offered him a drink and told him she had broken up with her "bastard" boyfriend.
Barlow said she complained of a sore neck and shoulders and accepted his offer of a massage.
Barlow said she allowed him to fondle her breasts and then performed oral sex on him. He denied pinning her against the wall and violating her.
Barlow said he felt so disgusted at having cheated on his wife that he went downstairs and vomited.
Mr Kaye said he was guilty of nothing more than stupidity and gross indiscretion.
The morning after the incident, the victim called her sister and told her of the alleged attack, worrying that nobody would believe her over a police officer.
The victim declined to comment on the verdict last night.
Constable guilty of assault only: jury
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