Woman at centre of rape case tells of ‘devastation’

A WOMAN who claims she was raped by two footballers told a court yesterday she was ‘devastated’ when informed there was to be no criminal prosecution.

She is suing former Scotland striker David Goodwillie and ex-St Johnstone player David Robertson over the alleged 2011 attack.

In court yesterday, the woman, 30, was asked what effect the decision not to prosecute had on her. She said: ‘I kind of felt they didn’t believe me, I was really quite confused, upset. I was actually devastated.’

The woman, who gave evidence in a court closed to the public, said she was later awarded criminal injuries compensation.

She is suing the men after raising a £500,000 damages claim at the Court of Session. The court was told the amount of compensation to be paid to the woman if she succeeds in the action has been agreed.

She alleges both men raped her in the early hours of January 2, 2011 at a flat in Armadale, West Lothian.

It is claimed she was incapable, due to the effect of alcohol, of giving free agreement at the time when intercourse took place.

She had gone out for the evening in nearby Bathgate with a friend and had been at a pub and a nightclub. It is said she left the club shortly after 2am and was ‘visibly and obviously severely intoxicated’.

It is alleged the footballers offered her a lift home in a taxi, but the driver was requested to drop all three at a flat in Armadale.

The action says: ‘The defenders took the pursuer into the flat and raped her there in the early hours of the morning. Both defenders were aware of sexual conduct of the other toward the pursuer.’

It is alleged that neither of the men had a reasonable belief that she consented to sexual intercourse and that they left the woman unconscious in the flat. She woke later in the morning, alone and naked.

Former Dundee United and Blackburn Rovers player Goodwillie, 27, who is now with Plymouth Argyle, and Robertson, of Bathgate, deny the allegation and maintain that intercourse was consensual.

They claim that CCTV footage shows the woman was capable of walking, holding a conversation and using her mobile phone.

It is maintained that it shows her openly flirting with and kissing Robertson and walking with her arm linked through Goodwillie’s arm.

It is said she voluntarily got in to the taxi with them and that she engaged in conversation and walked without difficulty from the taxi to the flat.

The case continues.

‘I was really quite confused’