An alleged rapist has walked free from court after the Crown dropped the charge against him.
Dean Ross, 20, had denied putting his penis into the mouth of a sleeping woman in her home in Dundee in July 2018.
The woman told how Ross had borrowed her mobile phone and left it logged on to his Facebook account.
When she looked at his Messenger history she claimed she found incriminating messages had been sent from her phone to his mum and another woman, admitting he had raped her.
A jury at the High Court in Livingston heard evidence of a text to his mum Suzanne, describing what he had done when the woman was “half asleep”.
It said: “Let’s just say I am not a very nice person.
“I should die ‘cos I know it’s wrong.”
His mum responded: “What’s she saying about it, Dean?
The accused answered: “Well, 1. she was half asleep; 2. it’s wrong to do that; 3 it’s sexual assault.”
The message continued: “The point is it’s wrong you do that to a woman.
“If you do it without the woman saying yes then you’re not allowed to do it. It’s wrong.”
Language similarity
Another exchange of messages to another woman, recovered from the accused’s account, described the same assault.
Giving evidence, the complainer admitted she had later messaged the accused to tell him: “I’m not pressing charges because I know you didn’t mean it” but later changed her mind and reported the matter to the police.
Gary Allan QC, defending, told the woman Ross denied absolutely he had sent messages to his mother about the alleged rape that day.
He highlighted she had used the word “d**k” to describe what had happened during her evidence.
The same word had been used in the messages to describe the alleged sexual assault.
He told her: “You could have sent them yourself, and lo and behold, the language you used in the text is the language you used today.”
She denied it.
When the case called for the third time on Monday, Advocate depute Peter Ferguson QC said after considering the evidence, the prosecution was deserting the case.
Judge Lord Arthurson formally acquitted Ross, of Scotstoun, Glasgow and told him he was free to leave the dock.
