Jury rejects teenager’s claim she was plied with drink and sexually assaulted twice in one night
‘Months of hell’ end for man accused of raping girl, 15
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A man cleared of raping a 15-year-old schoolgirl yesterday told how he had endured “14 months of hell”.
Tearful Alan Dawson, 25, left the Inverness courtroom with his crying relatives and said he could not put into words his relief that his ordeal was finally over.
Dawson had denied raping the teenager on two occasions at his home at 2 Balmakeith Park, Nairn.
It took the jury about two-and-a-half hours to return a majority verdict of not guilty, following a four-day trial at the High Court in Inverness.
The jury, of 10 women and five men, also returned a not guilty verdict to two charges of statutory rape.
Dawson, who burst into tears when the verdict was announced, said outside court: “It has been 14 months of hell, but now I am so happy. All my friends and family have been behind me because they know I am not that person.
“Words cannot describe my joy right now.”
He had been accused of raping the girl on September 13 and 14, 2008, after he allegedly “plied her with alcohol”, carried her into his bedroom, and while she was asleep and under the influence of alcohol and “incapable of giving or withholding consent”.
It was also alleged that a few hours later he raped her again.
In evidence, he claimed he thought the girl was 17 and that she had consented to having sex with him.
He repeatedly denied during cross-examination by advocate depute Andrew Stewart QC, prosecuting, that the teenager was “extremely drunk”.
Dawson said he carried the teenager into his bedroom where they had kissed several times during the evening and were “hugging and kissing” the next morning.
He also told the court they kissed on the doorstep when she left the house in the morning.
