A sex attacker who went “shopping” for a victim late at night in Perth has been locked up after a jury found him guilty of assaulting a woman as she slept.
Wieslaw Piotrowski, 62, was remanded in custody and warned he faces a lengthy prison term for carrying out a sex attack on the vulnerable woman.
Piotrowski was seen “hovering around” a taxi rank before ushering a total stranger – who was drunk and high on cocaine – into the back of a taxi.
The 37-year-old victim said she was “totally wasted” and incapable of standing or speaking.
She was unaware of where she was when she woke up to find Piotrowski attacking her.
He told the jury he had climbed into bed with the woman and woken to find her on top of him.
However, the jury at Perth Sheriff Court unanimously found Piotrowski guilty of sexually assaulting the woman after luring her back to his home at Perth Airport, near Scone.
Sheriff William Gilchrist deferred sentence for reports and told the accused that due to the serious nature of the conviction he would be remanded in custody.
Pulled into taxi rank
The victim told jurors she had been drinking beer and taking cocaine at a party and was refused entry to a nightclub.
“I was away with it,” she said.
“I couldn’t stand. I couldn’t speak.
“I was fine one moment, the next I was totally wrecked.”
She said she dropped her keys and a man picked them up for her before pulling her into the taxi queue with him.
Her next memory was of coming round in a man’s bed.
Sexual assault
She was naked from the waist down and had her top and bra pulled up.
“I woke up with no clothes on and him doing things to me,” she said.
“I knew it wasn’t right.”
She fled from the house – leaving her underwear behind – and asked a security guard to call her a taxi.
The incident was subsequently reported to the police.
‘Shopping for young women’
Piotrowski denied the Crown’s assertion that he was “shopping for young women” and instead claimed he was a Good Samaritan who had stepped in to help.
“She dropped her keys and I helped her.
“We had a conversation and I asked her if she wanted to go back to mine. She agreed.”
He said the woman “had too much to drink” so he helped her stand up and decided to take her home in a taxi because he wanted to know more about her.
Piotrowski said he helped her out of the taxi and opened the front door of his home.
He claimed the woman walked straight to his bedroom and climbed into the bed.
Fiscal depute Michael Sweeney told Piotrowski: “You thought all of your Christmases had come at once.”
The taxi driver told the court the woman was in a heavily intoxicated state and he thought the situation appeared to be like a father collecting his drunken daughter from a night out.
Piotrowski was found guilty of sexually assaulting the woman by removing her clothing and carrying out various sexual acts upon her while she was incapable of giving consent.
