A man who “exposed his buttocks” and defecated in front of a stranger on a quiet footpath was trying to “make her laugh,” a court heard.

Marcus Dalby has gone on trial this week, alleged to have become partially naked while performing the obscenity, in Ashford in November 2021.

The 29-year-old is accused of common assault and being in breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, issued at Canterbury Crown Court in August.

Dalby, who comes from the town, overtook the girl in her late teens on a footpath between Ashford International Station and The Riverside Inn during the late morning, jurors heard.

Prosecutor Sophie Stannard said: “Mr Dalby then came behind her and overtook her, the defendant then kept looking behind his shoulder back at her.

“He hurried up and he was in front of her, (the alleged victim) could see his boxer shorts were exposed.”

She then noticed Dalby was exposing and touching his buttocks, while defecating, with the mess on his hand, Miss Stannard explained.

“Looking into her eyes,” Dalby then held onto the girl as she tried to free herself while screaming, before he fled back towards Ashford International Station.

“He was prohibited from being naked or being seen as naked in a public place,” Miss Stannard told jurors.

A police investigation led to Dalby being identified on CCTV and subsequently arrested, however, he denied any wrongdoing in a police interview.

Dalby, of Pollard Close, told officers he found the girl attractive from behind and wished to speak with her, and hoped to “make her laugh” by exposing his buttocks, the court heard.

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He argued he “unintentionally broke wind and tried to catch” his poo and denied assaulting the woman, jurors were told.

But Miss Stannard described Dalby’s defence as “implausible,” and showed jurors the CCTV evidence handed to the police.

It showed the woman coming from beneath the underpass in the direction away from Ashford International Station, with Dalby walking closely behind.

He could then be seen overtaking her and looking behind himself, before they both walked out of the frame.

Minutes later, a figure who is allegedly the defendant could be seen running in the opposite direction towards the station, with the woman rushing towards The Riverside Inn.

Fighting back tears from the stand on the first day of Dalby's trial, the complainant described him overtaking her, and then acting “fidgety”.

“I didn’t understand why someone would do something like that - I was disgusted, I didn’t think it was real,” she told jurors.

“When he came towards me, his hands came towards my throat, and there was fighting, his hands were everywhere.”

She described his hands as “dirty” and “probably with faeces on them,” adding Dalby approached her “three or four times” while entirely silent.

“I just started screaming probably for help, no one heard me,” she went on.

She described how Dalby then fled, giving her the opportunity to run home: “I was in a panic and I fell to the floor,” she explained.

The trial is expected to last two days and Dalby is yet to argue his case.