He assaulted 24-year-old guy after stag
BY TIM BUGLER reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk
AN “IRON Man” Police Scotland gun cop has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a 24-year-old Good Samaritan who had brought him home drunk after a stag night.
Constable Roderick Keith, 51, once commended by his chief constable for his bravery, kissed the man on the head before shoving his hand down his boxers and then pretending to be asleep.
His victim fled in horror after the incident and went to the home of relatives nearby and told them what Keith had done.
He had earlier taken Keith back to the officers’s home in Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, after finding the officer sitting alone and staring into space in a Falkirk sports bar at 3am.
Falkirk Sheriff Court heard he knew and “looked up” to the hero cop, a married triathlete father-of-two and Iron Man competitor who was a firearms officer for 11 years.
Keith drank at least eight pints of Guinness during a seven-and-a-half hour drinking session at the stag do for another police officer at the town’s Thirsty Cow pub and later at the nearby Sportsters bar where his victim found him – and was so concerned about his state he took him home.
They were let in by Keith’s wife, who then went to bed. Keith and his victim then sat on the sofa, where the incident occurred.
His victim told the court: “I must have fallen asleep and I woke up because I felt movement in my groin area. I moved his arm away with my elbow but I thought I must have been dreaming.
“I questioned it for a few seconds before I fell asleep again.”
He said then he woke up lying on his back being sexually assaulted by Keith, “underneath his boxers”.
The witness said he stood up and looked at Keith and saw one of his eyes open slightly “to see what I was doing” before shutting it and pretending to be asleep.
He left the house and went to his uncle and aunt’s home nearby and told the couple what had happened.
They took him home and they told his mother as he said he was too embarrassed and ashamed to do so himself.
They all advised him to report the incident, which he did the following day.
Keith denied sexually assaulting the man in the alleged incident on December 9, 2018.
Sheriff John Mundy placed Keith on the sex offenders’ register and deferred sentence until September 16 for a background report. He added: “All I can say at this stage is that all options are open to the court.”
Keith, who was suspended from his firearms role and placed on restricted duties after he was charged, also faces disciplinary action from the force.