Angus student convicted of raping woman

stirling: Birkhill man boasted he would sleep with 100 women at university

A student ‘ambassador’ who boasted that he was going to sleep with 100 women at a Scottish university has been convicted of rape.

Duncan Burns held a privileged position as an accommodation liaison officer at Stirling University and wore an official red T-shirt so vulnerable students could identify him if they needed help.

But a jury heard evidence that Burns was a sexual predator who forced himself on a young female student after arranging early morning meetings with her.

The jury heard evidence that the woman and another female who also had sex with Burns went to the police with almost identical stories about how he had abused them before ultimately raping them.

However the jury returned a majority verdict finding the accused not guilty of raping the second woman.

Giving evidence from behind a screen at the High Court in Livingston the woman he raped, now aged 22, told how Burns used his superior strength to have intercourse with them against their will.

She said she repeatedly told him ‘No’ and tried in vain to push him off as he used his body to pin her down on a bed before pulling down her tights and underwear.

She admitted she liked Burns, who she met on Tinder, and wanted to have a relationship with him.

She alleged that he raped her in one of the university’s halls of residence on March 23 2016.

She said: “I remember it hurting and I told him that it was hurting. He didn’t stop. It didn’t change anything. He just carried on.”

Asked by defence counsel Mark Stewart if she was pressing Burns to have a relationship, she replied: “Sometimes he would say he wanted to sleep with 100 women and then he would commit to me. I would say it was mixed.”

Burns, 24, of Rosemount Road, Birkhill, was originally charged with three counts of rape and six of assault.

He had lodged special defences claiming any sexual contact he had with the two females was with their consent.

He also faced an allegation that he raped the other female on March 23 2016.

The Crown withdrew the assault charges at the close of the prosecution’s evidence and he was acquitted of those charges.

Adjourning sentence until November 29 for background reports, Judge Lord Mulholland told Burns: “You’ve been convicted of a charge of rape. This is a very serious matter.

“You had sexual intercourse with (a woman) without her consent despite her making it plain to you she didn’t want sex with you.

“The court takes a very serious view of such criminal conduct.”

Burns will have his name added to the sex offenders register.

Student ‘ambassador’ Duncan Burns was found guilty of rape.