A former Aberdeen police officer accused of historic sexual offences and indecent behaviour involving children has denied that fellow officers covered up his alleged crimes.
Gordon Raeper is facing a number of charges at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, including that he attempted to kiss a young girl on the mouth and touch her private parts at a property in Aberdeen.
The alleged offences were said to have taken place between April 1984 and April 1985 when the girl was aged around 12.
Giving evidence at Raeper’s trial, the alleged victim – now in her 50s – claim she reported the incident to a constable in the mid-1990s but that no follow-up investigation was carried out.
During cross-examination Reaper, 66, was quizzed about a “culture of protecting your own” within Grampian Police, as it was known at the time.
He told the court “there was no such culture” and that allegations against an officer would have been fully investigated.
Accused of extortion
Two charges relate to physical assault against two women while one charge involves the sexual assault of another.
He is accused of exposing and sexually touching himself in front of two children between 1984 and 2004 – asking one to attach bondage gear to him.
Raeper is also accused of attempting to extort two women into having a threesome with him.
He denies all the charges against him.
Fiscal depute Christy Ward told the court that one of the alleged victims felt she had been given “the brush off” by police.
In her cross-examination, she asked Raeper if it was his position that everything that was reported to officers in the mid-1990s was “investigated fully?”
“It was standard practice that if someone came to the police box we would deal with it,” he replied.
“But is it standard practice that someone would be coming to the box to report a police officer?” Ms Ward asked.
Reaper said that if any member of the public “made any allegation like that, of any nature, then an officer would definitely contact a supervisor.”
He added: “They wouldn’t turn them away. I would expect an officer to take it seriously and deal with it.”
Ms Ward asked: “Was there a bit of a boy’s culture of protecting your own?
“And is it not the case that you were aware that there was this culture and that is what allowed you to continue with this sort of behaviour?”
Raeper said: “There was no such culture. If a police officer was in trouble they actually went to town on them.”
Ms Ward said: “That would, of course, rely upon the officer to who your name was disclosed doing anything about it, wouldn’t it?”
She added: “So it is possible that [the alleged victim] did report the matter and that it and it didn’t go any further?”
“Anything is possible,” Reaper replied.
Ms Ward put it to Raeper that he “did do all the things that are alleged by witnesses in this case”.
“And that you used your position as a police officer to keep those people silent, you threatened them and you told them ‘who’s going to believe you over a police officer?’
“You did this in the knowledge that they were too scared to be able to do anything about this.”
“It is not true,” Raeper replied.
Former cop denies making threats for sex
Raeper is also accused of threatening to expose a lesbian relationship that a woman was having with a co-worker unless both of them had a threesome with him.
However, the former officer denies that any sexual encounter ever took place, claiming that the two women climbed into bed with him while drunk and that he turned away from them.
Raeper’s defence counsel, Andrew Crosbie, asked him if he had ever said to one of the women “no one will believe you over me” and or made claims he would get her “thrown off” her college course?
He denied making the threats and said he had not known the woman was a student at the time.
The trial, presided over by Sheriff Ian Wallace, will hear closing speeches by the Crown and Raeper’s defence team tomorrow.
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