Cuba Gooding Jr. appeared at New York State Criminal Court yesterday (Picture: Jefferson Siegel/Reuters)

Cuba Gooding Jr. has appeared briefly in a New York court over claims he sexually assaulted a woman in a bar in June.

The actor, who denies the allegations, attended the hearing at New York State Criminal Court only to be told the trial date will now be 10 October 2019.

According to CNN, Gooding Jr. is charged with forcibly touching and sex abuse in the third degree. Both charges are misdemeanours.

epa07814975 US actor Cuba Gooding Jr. appears in New York State Criminal Court in the Manhattan borough of New York, 03 September 2019. Gooding is charged with sex abuse in the third degree related to an alleged groping incident in June this year. EPA/Jefferson Siegel / POOL
The incident is alleged to have occurred at a rooftop bar in NYC (Picture: Jefferson Siegel/Reuters Pool)

The date was set by judge Herbert Moses of the Manhattan Supreme Court. Prosecutors said they needed more time to gather evidence.

Addressing reporters after the hearing, Gooding Jr.s lawyer Mark Heller said: Cuba is extremely confident that this case will be dismissed.

Heller furthermore added: Cuba takes the position, and we do as well, that he is someone that should never have been prosecuted.

Mark Heller, attorney for Cuba Gooding Jr., talks to the media as he arrives for his client's trial on sexual assault case, on September 3, 2019, in New York. - Gooding will go on trial over accusations he groped a woman in New York after a court dismissed his plea to have the case thrown out. Gooding, 51, is accused of grabbing the woman's breast without her consent in a Manhattan bar on a night out in June. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images
Caption: Mark Heller, lawyer for Cuba Gooding Jr. addresses press after the court appearance
(Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

He added that he believed prosecutors were trying to procrastinate after requesting the delay.

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Gooding, 51, is known for films such as Boyz n the Hood and Snow Dogs. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Jerry Maguire.

More recently he was seen on the West End stage, in a 2019 production of Chicago.

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