A man has been found guilty of raping a woman who agreed to share his bed because she “trusted him”.
Neil Kennedy’s victim said she was given alcohol and crack cocaine before he forced himself on her at his then-home in Keith.
Kennedy, 41, had denied a charge that he raped the woman twice in one day but was found guilty by a jury following a trial at the High Court in Inverness.
In evidence led by advocate depute James Irvine, Kennedy’s victim, who was in her early 20s, told the court she had gone to visit her attacker who had given her crack cocaine and whisky miniatures before the attack.
During the visit, Kennedy took the woman’s clothes and put them in the washing machine, providing her with lounge trousers and a t-shirt to wear instead after she decided to stay the night.
She told jurors: “I didn’t mind sleeping in his bed because I trusted him.”
But once the pair had retired to bed in the early hours of June 11 2022, Kennedy began to make advances that were rebuffed.
“He was insinuating about him and I having sex. I said no to him,” the woman said.
“He kept going on saying something like ‘I know you want to, we both know you want this to happen’ and things like that.
“I had said several times ‘no’, and I didn’t want to.”
‘I kept saying no, that is all I kept saying’
She said the next thing she remembers was Kennedy pulling down her trousers and raping her.
“I kept saying no, that is all I kept saying – just stop, I don’t want this,” she told the jury.
The woman said that she kicked at Kennedy and tried to push him away but his strength was too great.
The woman told the jury that the rape left her “frozen” and said: “I couldn’t really do anything.”
She said that she remained in Kennedy’s bed and was still there when police officers called at the property.
“I had moved to make a noise but he ended up putting a pillow over my face so I couldn’t do nothing,” she said, adding: “He made sure I couldn’t call for help.”
‘Mum, I scared and I’m in agony’
The woman said she entered a “depression stage” following the rape, sleeping on and off in Kennedy’s bed, before moving to the living room sofa at one point to “have a bit of space”.
She said Kennedy then asked what she was doing before putting her over his shoulder and carrying her back to his bed and raping her a second time.
Asked why she did not leave the flat when she had the chance, she said: “I genuinely don’t know why I didn’t leave, I think I was just too scared.”
The woman said the attacks left her “sore” and “scared” and it was not until two days later when Kennedy was sleeping that she retrieved her still-wet clothes from his washing machine and left the flat.
Once outside she contacted her mother telling her what had happened and saying she “had been abused all weekend”.
“Mum, I scared and I’m in agony,” she wrote.
She reported the rapes to police that day.
‘She is a liar’
Kennedy was arrested and at interview claimed to have spent the weekend elsewhere, although it was conceded at trial he was in fact at home.
He denied sexual contact with his victim, telling police: “She is a liar, eh?” and “It’s not happened!”
The trial heard that testing found the woman’s DNA on his penis.
Kennedy gave no evidence in his own defence and the jury took less than two hours to find him guilty of rape.
Judge Summers deferred sentence for reports and told Kennedy: “It is quite clear given the gravity of the offence that, in due course, a meaningful custodial sentence will have to be imposed.”
He remanded Kennedy in custody until the sentencing hearing, which will be held at the High Court in Aberdeen in July.
