A man on trial accused of raping a teenager at gunpoint allegedly told two social workers he had “flipped” and perpetrated the violent sex crime, a court has heard.
Nathan Sim is facing charges at the High Court in Aberdeen that he donned a black balaclava and pulled out an imitation handgun before raping and repeatedly sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man.
The 20-year-old is additionally accused of abducting the teenager by detaining him in his flat on Great Northern Road, using violence and by threatening him with a fake gun and machete.
It is also alleged he attempted to pervert the course of justice by forcing the teenager to take a shower to destroy evidence.
Sim faces one final charge of having a class B drug in his possession.
He has denied all the charges against him, which are said to have taken place in July 2022.
Accused allegedly told social worker he had ‘hurt’ someone
On the second day of the trial, jurors heard evidence from two social workers who met with Sim as he waited in the cells prior to his first court appearance.
One social worker, Brett Morrison, told the court that Sim disclosed that he had carried out the alleged offences before stating: “I really f***** up this time, I went too far I think”.
Describing him as “distressed, upset and scared” when he arrived in the cells, Mr Morrison said Sim was “pleading in desperation” due to the “perilous” situation he found himself in.
He said Sim told him he had “really hurt a young person”.
“He said he had really f***** up this young person and they didn’t deserve it,” Mr Morrison said.
The social worker then told advocate depute Naomie Warner that Sim made a “penetration symbol” with his hand and forefinger.
“I assumed it was a very, very serious sexual assault,” he said, adding; “It was a very apologetic person in that cell. He was pleading for a miracle.”
Mr Morrison also said Sim had mentioned a weapon, but that he’d claimed it “didn’t work and didn’t belong to him [Sim]”.
“Nathan said he didn’t mean to go through with it,” the social worker went on.
“He had put on a mask, the boy had s*** himself and he flipped,” adding that Sim then stated that he had “punched f*** out of him”.
Social worker claims Sim ‘needed to offload’
During cross-examination, Sim’s defence advocate David Moggach stated to the witness that, as a social worker, he had gone to the cell to “enquire after the welfare” of his client.
He then asked Mr Morrison why he didn’t stop Sim when he started to “disclose information he was not there to hear?”
“I remember telling Nathan that what he was telling me I have to pass over,” Mr Morrison said, adding: “He was aware of that. He needed to offload.”
Mr Moggach then pressed the social worker on whether Sim really made the hand symbol for sexual penetration.
“One hundred percent,” Mr Morrison replied.
Another social worker, Kirstin Meyer, was with Mr Morrison in the cell that day and backed up her colleague’s account of what Sim allegedly said.
“I remember him saying that he just wanted to get it off his chest and he just wanted to tell Brett Morrison,” Ms Meyer told the advocate depute.
“It was maybe that he was stressing about appearing in court – I don’t know if it was self-pity.”
‘I have never seen somebody so upset in my life’
The court also heard from the dad of the teenager Sim is alleged to have raped, who described his son as “hysterical” and crying uncontrollably when he returned home the morning after the alleged incident.
“He came in and immediately grabbed me and wouldn’t let go,” the man said.
“He kept saying he was so scared, so scared. I have never seen somebody so upset in my life.”
The jury was also shown a selection of photographs lifted from Sim’s mobile phone, which appear to show a man wearing a balaclava, a man pointing a gun and an image of a large knife.
Following this, the advocate depute official closed the Crown case.
The trial, before Judge Graham Buchanan, continues.
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