Busker cleared of under- age sex with girl
An X Factor hopeful has been cleared of having sex with a 13- year- old school girl and having sexual activity with another aged 15.
Marc Evans who busked in Ayr Town Centre, was accused of having intercourse with the 13- year- old on “multiple occasions” in Annbank and Ayr.
O ne alleged offence took place weeks or days within Evans taking part in an X Factor audition.
Another alleged victim said she performed a sex act on him in an Ayr car park and in an alley way.
A jury found the charges against Evans, 25, not proven after a trial at Ayr Sheriff Court last week.
A woman, now 21, told the court she dated Evans for a few months in 2010 after meeting him on her school lunchbreak while he busked in the town.
She said they entered into a relationship despite her being 13 and him 18 at the time.
She said: “We had a sexual and romantic relationship.”
Answering depute fiscal depute fiscal Hayley Robertson’s questions, the woman said they had sex on a number of occasions at “multiple locations.” She said they had intercourse at two friends’ houses and in her childhood bedroom.
Ms Robertson asked her: “What was the attraction of you to Mark Evans at the time?”
She replied: “He treated me nicely. We laughed and I love music.”
Defence advocate Kevin McCallum questioned why she had told police the alleged offences took place in 2011 but changed the timing to 2010 in court.
He asked her why she didn’t clarify the dates before the case came to trial. She replied: “It was a long time ago. I wasn’t exactly a good person back then either.”
Mr McCallum said his client had never visited Annbank and the woman wasn’t telling the truth about her relationship with him.
Stonemason Andrew Martin who went to Prestwick Academy with Evans and knew the pair in 2010 said he heard them having sex.
He told the court the 13- year- old girl was Evan’s “girlfriend at the time” and he was in their company several times.
He said the pair went upstairs to a bedroom once in his home and returned half an hour later “giggling.”
On another occasion he said he heard them having sex outside a summer house in Annbank.
Another woman said Evans engaged in sexual activity with her when she was only 15 in 2013.
The court heard she peformed a sex act on him in a multi- storey car park at Burns House beside the Odeon sometime over the course of February and March 2013.
It happened again in a Craigie alleyway in April, the court heard.
McCallum denied having sex with the 13- year- old and insisted he had never been in Annbank.
The court heard during 2010 Evans had been at an X- Factor audition in April, went camping in Castle Douglas for a couple of nights in May and was at an army cadet camp near Dundee from July 24 to August. But it was unknown if those dates corresponded to times of alleged offences as the complainer said she couldn’t remember the exact dates he’d had sex with her between April and September 2010. Evans denied the 15- year- old teen peformed a sex act on him twice.
The jury found the charge of sex with a 13- year- old and two counts of sexual activity with the 15- year- old not proven.