A man accused of multiple sex attacks on teenage girls has conceded he was “an angry young man” but denied being a rapist.
Ruaridh Gilmour, 23, made the concession after he took the stand in his own defence on the second day of evidence at a High Court trial in Inverness.
He is facing four charges of rape and two of assault relating to alleged incidents involving three teenagers between 2014 and 2019.
Speaking from the witness box he told the court that he had been bullied at primary and secondary schools and, under cross-examination by advocate depute John McElroy, agreed he was “an angry young man?”
But he denied taking his frustrations out on his accusers.
Gilmour’s testimony came shortly after he admitted four charges relating to sexual activity with older children part-way through the hearing.
Earlier in the day jurors heard from a third alleged victim, who said Gilmour had forced her to touch his private parts against her wishes when she was a teenager, telling her it was “good for his mental health”.
‘I will show you’
Jurors also heard a reading of part of her original police statement, in which she described how Gilmour had asked her to perform a sex act and she had told him she didn’t know what it was.
She claims he replied: “I will show you.”
“He grabbed me by the hair and pushed my head down,” she told police, adding that she had told him she did not want to do this but he continued anyway.
The witness said that when Gilmour suggested they have sex: “I explained that I was still a virgin and I didn’t really know what happened.”
After initially agreeing, she asked Gilmour to stop because it was “too sore”.
“As soon as it started I didn’t want to,” she said. “I said: ‘no, it hurts’.”
The court heard that Gilmour told her “I will try again,” which he did “multiple times.”
A second witness said he had “just pulled his trousers back up and continued to go and make tea as if nothing had happened” after she silently endured his unwanted attentions for fear of angering him.
‘It was what she wanted’
In evidence led by defence advocate Jim Keegan QC, Gilmour, 23, of Pitglassie, Dingwall, insisted all contact with the first witness had been consensual.
“She agreed every time, she would kiss me back, or hold me, or hold my hand,” he said.
Asked if he had drawn blood while biting her, Gilmour replied: “A couple of occasions by accident, it was nothing I intended to do.”
Gilmour admitted having sex with one of his other accusers when she was underage, saying: “It was what she wanted and I thought it was what was expected of me.”
However, he denied ever forcing himself on her in a bathroom as she had described in her evidence.
“That did not happen,” he added.
Gilmour also insisted that “nothing happened” with his final accuser.
The trial, before Judge Graham Buchanan, continues.
