A civil service executive officer who was jailed for sexually assaulting two women has succeeded in having his convictions quashed.
Aadam Mohammed, 31, is set to walk free from prison after appeal judges cleared him of the charges.
He was convicted last year of raping and sexually assaulting a woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at a house in Perth in December 2009.
A jury also heard how Mohammed indecently assaulted another woman in a car in the Perthshire area sometime between October 2009 and October 2010.
He was acquitted of raping a third woman.
Judge Lord Summers handed Mohammed, of Perth, a four year jail term for the offences last year.
Earlier this month, defence solicitor advocate Ann Ogg told a virtual hearing of the Court of Criminal Appeal that the nature of the attacks for which Mohammed was convicted of were so different in nature that the incidents didn’t corroborate each other.
The court heard that if Mohammed had been convicted of raping the third woman then it would have been open to jurors to find the accused guilty.
Ms Ogg said that a set of legal guidelines – known as the Moorov doctrine – dictated that since both incidents couldn’t be corroborated, her client shouldn’t have been convicted.
The doctrine means people accused of sexual offences in Scotland can be convicted if their alleged attacks are connected closely in “time, character and circumstance and have underlying unity” among other considerations.
Yesterday, judges Lady Dorrian, Lord Glennie and Lord Turnbull upheld Ms Ogg’s case.
In a written judgement issued at the Court of Criminal Appeal, Lady Dorrian wrote: “In all the circumstances we are satisfied that once the jury discarded charge one it was not open to them to conclude that charges two and three created the circumstances necessary for the application of Moorov and they should have been told that if they rejected the evidence of the complainer on charge one they were required to acquit on the remaining charges. The appeal must therefore succeed.”
During proceedings earlier this month, prosecution lawyer Alex Prentice told the judges Mr Mohammed’s conviction was safe.
He said there was sufficient evidence available which would entitle jurors to convict the father of one.
However, the appeal judges disagreed with the Crown’s submissions and now Mr Mohammed has been cleared.
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