A former Exeter Chiefs player has been cleared of sexually assaulting a woman at a city centre bar while on a night out at the club's Christmas Party.

Niko Matawalu, 28, signed for the Chiefs in November, but who has since been released by the club and who never played a game for the first team, strenuously denied the allegation.

Scrum-half Matawalu, who has 32 caps for Fiji, had been out with his new teammates for the club's Christmas Party and had ended up in John Gandys bar on the evening of December 3, 2016, Taunton Crown Court heard in a two day trial.

Matawalu, of Hayes Square, Cranbrook, was found not guilty by the jury of six men and six women two hours of deliberations.

Fijian international Matawalu had been out with his new teammates for the club's Christmas Party that night.

Giving evidence in his defence today, Matawalu told the court he had had been drinking

Niko Matawalu
Niko Matawalu

Led through his evidence by his barrister Mr Adam Vitalingham QC, Matawalu said: "The club was overcrowded, and I was trying to get past," he said.

"Suddenly she turned around, she was shouting at me. It was so loud I couldn't hear what she was saying.

"She was being really aggressive. I just walked away, I tried to have fun with the boys."

He said that when the bouncers came to talk to him after the woman complained, he'd been unable to hear what they'd been saying to him.

"I thought they were pointing out a fan to me," he said. "I laughed and blew a kiss. It wasn't until we went outside and I could hear what they were saying that I realised what they meant.

"I was like 'what?', I was surprised." he said.

Niko Matawalu
Niko Matawalu

Matawalu said the women had been 'aggressive' when she confronted him outside the club.

"I was like 'whoa', I tried to calm her down," he said. "She was saying that I did touch her and she wanted an apology. But I couldn't do this. I respect all girls.

"She accused me of doing something that is very horrible to do."

CCTV footage shown to the jury showed Matawalu down on his knees in the street outside the club, and hugging his team mates as they tried to explain the situation to him.

He said he had been shocked and scared after being arrested and had problems understanding the questions the police were asking him.

"I didn't do it," Matawalu insisted.

Taunton Crown Court on Thursday had heard been told that Matawalu touched the woman under the skirt in a forceful manner that could not have been accidental by Mr James Haskell, prosecuting the case.

Niko Matawalu
Niko Matawalu

Giving evidence via videolink at the court, the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had recounted the moment of his alleged assault, and said that she was left shocked and gobsmacked by what happens and left the venue in tears.

She told the court that she was in John Gandys bar standing downstairs near the steps when from behind she felt a hand go up her skirt, grab her vagina, and then it stroked her backwards and he grabbed her left bum cheek.

Describing how she felt, the woman said: "I was shocked and gobsmacked and angry, particularly how he reacted. He seemed unfazed about what he had done and he seemed to think it was a perfectly reasonable thing for him to have done. It could not have been an accident.

"I felt really uneasy, particularly as he didn't seem bothered by it at all."

But after hearing the evidence in the case, the jury found Matawalu not guilty of the sexual assault charge that he faced.

He did not react as the verdict was read out by the foreman and Mr Matawalu's solicitor said his client would not be issuing a statement, adding that he wanted to 'put it all behind him'.