Man who ‘fell on top of unconscious woman’ acquitted of hotel rape

Jurors returned a not proven verdict against the 22-year-old following a trial at the High Court.

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A man accused of raping an unconscious woman in a hotel room has been acquitted.

Jurors returned a not proven verdict against James Robb following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

The 22-year-old was said to have attacked the “comatose” 24-year-old at the Normandy Hotel in Renfrew on May 14, 2019.

Robb, of Aberdeen, had denied the allegation and said he fell on top of the woman while helping her undress.

The fall was used to explain his DNA being found on her.

He told jurors that he had gone to her aid due to her intoxicated condition and admitted that he “doesn’t know what he touched” when he fell.

He said: “I lost my footing while trying to pick her up and I used both hands to steady myself.

“I fell on top of her chest across the front of her body.”

He stated he put one of his hands “on the side of her and the other down the side of her leg”.

It was suggested that Robb had stated that he “could have” touched the woman on her “private part”.

He said: “I don’t know what I could have touched.”

During the trial prosecutor Iain Smith put to him: “Although she had passed out and another woman left the room, she woke up not only to try and undress herself but to agree that you should help her?”

Robb replied: “Yes.”

He also insisted his evidence of what happened was not “made up”.

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