An Inverness man on trial for forcing himself on a teenager told a jury he was attracted to her – but denied going to her flat with the intention of raping her.
Alasdair Bone, of 12 Glenurquhart Road, insisted that he thought a series of text messages between them suggested she wanted him to visit her and have sex.
The 50-year-old is on trial accused of entering the property while she was asleep and incapable of providing consent, removing her clothing and kissing her on the neck, all with the intention of raping her.
Yesterday at Inverness Sheriff Court, he told his defence lawyer Marc Dickson that the woman, who cannot be named and is now 21, was awake when he walked into her bedroom and she kissed and cuddled before helping him remove her skin tight jeans and underwear.
Bone told the court: “I felt great at the time. This younger girl liked me. Then she sat up and left the room. I thought she needed to go to the bathroom.
“I waited in the bed for some time and then I went through to the living room where she was sitting and talking on the phone.
“She wasn’t crying and I didn’t know who she was speaking to. I spoke to her but she didn’t reply to me.
“It seemed strange, the change, and I didn’t understand what was happening. She was kind of hostile and I didn’t know why. The mood had changed. I was wondering what I had done wrong. I guess she changed her mind.”
Bone said he had known her socially for about a couple of months and he and his friends met up with her and her friends on the night of December 29, 2013 before eventually ending up in her flat early the following morning.
They had sent each other text messages which got increasingly explicit before he sent a message saying he was coming round. He had not received a reply but he said he got the impression that she wanted him to visit her flat for sex.
Bone, who said he had never been in trouble with the police before, spent four days in a police cell before a court appearance.
The trial continues.