Man jailed for raping teenager he met in nightclub

A man has been jailed for raping a teenager he met in a nightclub who was too drunk to consent to sex.

Neil Davidson claimed in court that he had resisted the victim’s attempt to have intercourse with him because they did not have a condom.

The 26-year-old was convicted of raping the 19-year-old at the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday.

Davidson had denied raping the rape charge but accepted that other sexual acts took place with her which he claimed were consensual.

But he was today found guilty of carrying out the rape of the 19-year-old while she was intoxicated and incapable of giving or withholding consent.

The attack took place at a flat in Musselburgh, East Lothian on August 27, 2019.

The court heard that after the sex attack she sent him a message in which she called him “a sleazy b*****d” and said he had seen the condition she was in.

She told him: “You are so f*****g lucky I am not going to the police over this”.

The woman, now 21, told the court that a few days later she did go to the police because she felt angry and thought: “I am not letting somebody get away with that.”

She said she woke up in the flat naked, sore and feeling confused and shocked.

She said: “I knew he had slept with me, but it didn’t feel right. I just didn’t understand how that happened because I had no memory.”

The previous evening she had gone to a bar in Edinburgh before going onto a club in the city with others.

She told the court: “I was feeling quite drunk when we were arriving at the nightclub. I do remember going into the club then I just remember parts of being in the club.”

She said she remembered being sick in the toilets and added: “I had drunk too much.”

She said she had no memory of leaving the toilet but did recall being taken into the flat and had a limited recollection of him being on top of her.

Davidson, of Newcraighall Drive, Edinburgh, said that when he was leaving the club he was “tipsy, but fully aware of my surroundings and everything that was going on”.

He said of the woman: “I wouldn’t say she was stumbling. Her speech was fine.”

He said they had got a taxi to the flat, but it stopped during the journey as she was feeling sick.

He said: “She got out. She retched and that was it.”

He said that at the flat the woman started to kiss him and climbed on top of him. He said she undressed and he was also naked.

The first offender had been on bail during his trial but following his conviction was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing while a background report is prepared on him.

He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register.