The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Judge finds pair guilty
RULING: Victim was raped by two footballers
A woman has welcomed a judge’s ruling which found she was raped by two footballers after they avoided a criminal trial.
Denise Clair, who was 24 at the time of the incident, was left “devastated, upset and confused” when she was told the men would not be prosecuted.
After the Court of Session judgment, she said: “I am pleased by today’s verdict. However I am bitterly disappointed that I was so badly let down by the criminal justice system and was forced to seek a remedy through the civil court.
“If it was not for the support of my lawyer Cameron Fyfe and the team at Rape Crisis Scotland, I do not know how I could have coped throughout this long, harrowing journey.”
Ms Clair, now 30, said she remembers going to the Glenmavis Tavern in Bathgate on the evening of January 1, 2011.
She remembers meeting Cowdenbeath player David Robertson there but has no memory of meeting David Goodwillie, who plays for Plymouth Argyle. Her next recollection is waking up naked the following morning in a house she did not recognise, unable to find her clothes.
A Crown Office spokesperson said: “As Lord Armstrong stated in his judgment, the standard of proof to be satisfied was that of the balance of probabilities which is a less onerous requirement than the standard in criminal cases, which is ‘beyond reasonable doubt.
“Further, there is no requirement of corroboration in civil cases unlike in criminal cases.
“This case was looked at very carefully by Crown Counsel who concluded that there was insufficient evidence in law to raise criminal proceedings. As a result no proceedings were instructed.”
I am pleased by today’s verdict. DENISE CLAIR