A woman wept as she told a court she woke up at a party to find herself being sexually assaulted.
The woman was giving evidence at the trial of Andrew Murray at the High Court in Aberdeen.
Murray is facing charges of sexual assault and attempted rape, as well as attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The 51-year-old is alleged to have sexually assaulted and attempted to rape the woman, while she was too drunk to give or withhold consent, following an after-party at his flat on Union Grove in December 2018, having earlier attended a party at Pittodrie Stadium.
It is also alleged he tried to destroy evidence and avoid detection by removing bedding from the address, changing his clothing, driving to another address and showering.
Murray, of Linn Avenue, Buckie, denies the charges and lodged a special defence of consent.
Woke up in a ‘dark room’ wearing only her bra
On the first day of the trial, before a remote jury of eight women and seven men, the woman, who can’t be named for legal reasons, gave evidence.
Under questioning from advocate depute Chris Fyffe, the woman said she had fallen asleep in the living room at the after-party, while fully clothed, and then woke up in a “dark room” wearing only her bra.
The woman wept in the witness stand and told the court she woke up to find Murray sexually assaulting her and then attempting to rape her, before she pushed him away and got up.
In the living room of the property, the woman told the court she said to Murray: “You’ve just raped me.”
‘I had collapsed on the floor and I was crying’
She told the court: “He had his hands on his head and said ‘please don’t do this to me’.”
Asked by Mr Fyffe what she meant by “rape”, the woman responded: “Touching me in a sexual way without consent or me knowing anything about it.”
The woman went on to describe leaving the address in a state of partial dress, when two passers-by stopped to help.
She said: “I had collapsed on the floor and I was crying.”
The court was shown a screenshot of a text message the woman sent to a friend reading: “Help me.”
Mr Fyffe said: “One of the things that might be asked is whether you consented to what happened. Did you agree to sexual contact with Mr Murray?”
She replied: “No.”
The advocate depute went on: “Did you want any of that to happen?”
She replied: “No.”
Cross-examination
Defence counsel David Moggach said to the woman: “I’ve got to suggest to you that Mr Murray’s position is that, yes, there was sexual activity between you and him in his flat in his bedroom, but it was a consensual act by the two of you.”
The woman shook her head.
Mr Moggach went on: “It was you that undressed yourself and got into his bed. I take it you’re going to disagree with that?”
She replied: “Yes.”
He asked: “Could you enlighten as to how you came to be undressed and in his bed without knowing about it?”
The woman replied: “I don’t know.”
The defence counsel continued: “Having come to that, you didn’t say anything, didn’t question what was taking place, didn’t say ‘what’s going on, what are you doing?'”
She replied: “No.”
Mr Moggach said: “You just lay there.”
She replied: “Yes.”
The woman told Mr Moggach she did not have any memory of any other conversation with Murray, to which he replied: “You will not remember saying to him ‘can we see each other again?'”
She said: “No.”
Mr Moggach said: “At that point, Mr Murray saying ‘I don’t think so, I think this has been a bad idea’.
“At that point you then said ‘you have taken advantage of me, you’ve used me’.
“Is that what happened?”
The woman replied: “No.”
‘She’ll be fine here’
Evidence was also given by a man who had attended the after-party and tried to help the woman leave when he left.
He told the court: “I tried to pick her up and Andy (the accused) said ‘she’ll be fine here’.”
Asked by Mr Fyffe if he had concerns about leaving the woman in the flat, the witness replied: “Yes, 100%.”
The witness told the court he returned to the flat later in the early hours of the morning only to find the woman “hysterical, crying” on the street.
The witness was also taken through a statement he gave to police at the time in which he described the woman’s state of intoxication at the party. It said: “She seemed pretty drunk. She couldn’t even move really.”
Being cross-examined by Mr Moggach, the witness said the woman had not been in the same state when they arrived at the after-party, and said he didn’t remember her drinking anything there.
The defence counsel suggested her condition later on could be down to tiredness rather than alcohol, as she hadn’t taken any more alcohol.
The witness agreed.
‘Extremely drunk’
Another witness who had been at the after-party also described the woman’s condition. He said: “She wasn’t in the best of states. She was basically non-responsive.
“Non-responsive is maybe a bit far, but she was just lying there.”
Asked how she appeared, he replied: “Just extremely drunk and not able to communicate really.”
Mr Moggach then put to the witness that, as he hadn’t been at the flat the whole time, he didn’t know how she got into that condition. The witness agreed.
The trial, before Judge Graham Buchanan, continues.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.
