Hospital driver from Newtown denies giving elderly patient a French kiss
A married former special constable from Newtown who worked as a hospital patient taxi driver has denied kissing an elderly woman.
Caernarfon Crown Court was told by the woman that father-of-four Arthur Bowen, of Newtown, had dropped by unannounced at her home, checking on the OAP’s wellbeing, and had a chat and hot drink.
But before leaving the 64-year-old asked for a kiss, a jury heard.
The widow said she thought it would be on the cheek but giving evidence by video link from Welshpool, she said: “He grabbed me and started to kiss me and put his tongue in my mouth.
“I felt so repulsed. I wanted to bite off his tongue.”
She said she gargled a whole bottle of Dettol to get rid of the taste.
“I hardly knew him,” she said.
The church-going pensioner disputed a defence suggestion that they had kissed on the lips.
“He pushed his tongue down my throat,” she told John Hedgecoe, defending.
Prosecutor Simon Mintz alleged to the jury: ”He got carried away and gave her a sexual kiss.”
Bowen, a grandfather, of Lon Glanyrafon, denies sexual assault.
He had given her a lift to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital twice before the house visit, the court heard.
Bowen said that at the house they had talked and before he left he gave the pensioner a hug “the same I give my own mother a hug.”
He said: “I recall asking her ‘Can I give you a kiss?’, meaning a kiss on the cheek.
“Her reaction surprised me. Before I had a chance to turn my head she came forward and kissed me on the lips. That lasted momentarily.”
He told the prosecutor he was attracted to some “grannies”.
Mr Mintz declared :”You went to kiss her and gave her a proper French kiss.”
Bowen replied: ”Absolutely not.”
The trial continues.
