unanimous | 

Pervert (25) found guilty of upskirting incident in Belfast shopping centre

The 25-year-old was convicted of using his iPhone to take several pictures of a woman’s legs and thighs as she walked along a corridor

Today at 15:46

A Belfast man was today convicted by a jury of an upskirting incident committed in a city-centre shopping centre.

The jury at Belfast Crown Court returned a unanimous guilty verdict against Brian Marshall on a single charge of committing an act outraging public decency.

The 25-year-old, from Sydenham Gardens, was convicted of using his iPhone to take several pictures of a woman’s legs and thighs as she walked along a corridor leading to the toilets in Victoria Square shopping centre.

During the trial, the jury was shown CCTV of the incident in the corridor, as well as footage of the complainant approaching a security guard then throwing Marshall’s phone over a first-floor balcony.

The complainant gave evidence during the hearing and identified herself on the footage.

When she was asked what happened in the corridor at around 7pm on the evening of May 14, 2021, the complainant said she had been walking with a friend to use the bathroom when her friend noticed a man behind them.

From the witness box, the complainant said her friend “alerted” her to what was happening, and when asked what she saw when she turned round, the woman said: “He was crouched behind me, as I looked around, and his phone had dropped on the floor.

“He reached out to grasp the side button of his phone […] He was scrolling through his phone.”

The complainant said both she and her friend asked Marshall what he was doing, then observed him deleting photos.

She was also asked if she saw any relevant images on his phone, to which she replied: “He went into his ‘recently deleted’ folder and there were three or four photos. They were of my thighs; you could see some of my dress.”

When asked what happened next, the complainant said: “First of all, he denied having the photos. Then after we saw them, he started to say sorry, and then he started to say he had a girlfriend.”

The complainant said that after approaching a security guard on an upper floor, who told her there was nothing he could do but to contact the police, she then took the phone and threw it over the balcony.

Marshall also took to the witness stand during the trial and branded what happened as a misunderstanding.

He made the case that he was texting and walking along the corridor behind the complainant and her friend and simply dropped his phone.

The chef told the jury: “I was walking behind the ladies in question and I was carrying very expensive whiskey in one hand and my phone in the other.

“I dropped my phone. I tried to catch it [but] the phone fell, and that was it. That’s what caused this big mishap.”

He denied taking any images of up the complainant’s dress and said he went “willingly” with the women to the security guard to prove his innocence.

Marshall also said: “I tried to explain to him what the commotion was and show him what had actually happened. From there, I gave my phone to the females and said: ‘Look, if you think there’s anything, you can check.’

“They had a look and the next thing I knew, […] before I could do anything, the phone was gone, over the balcony.”

Marshall’s version of events was rejected by the jury, who found him guilty of committing an act of a lewd, obscene and disgusting nature and outraging public decency by taking a covert photograph, using a mobile telephone, of underneath the skirt of a female.

After delivering the verdict, the members of the jury were thanked by Judge Patricia Smyth for their time and attention.

A defence barrister then confirmed pre-sentence reports were being sought on Marshall, with Judge Smyth setting the date for sentencing as November 16.