A Perth takeaway boss has been convicted of sexually assaulting a “vulnerable” woman in her home, before bombarding her with a series of chilling text messages and threats.
Salar Rashid forced himself on his victim, as she tried to fight him off, in a traumatic attack fuelled by ketamine and vodka.
The woman told a jury at Perth Sheriff Court how she was lost in a “K-hole” after taking the horse tranquiliser drug on the night she was violated by the man she trusted as a friend.
Rashid, 24, tried to persuade the court his victim made up allegations against him because they had a falling out that evening.
He said he was confused about why she would call police because the row “wasn’t even that heated,” describing her 999 call as an “over-reaction”.
But even he had to admit the texts he sent to her in the following hours – including one mocking her for a previous suicide attempt – were “me being horrible”.
‘Should have been safe’ in her own home
After two days of evidence last week, jurors took about an hour to find Rashid guilty of sexually assaulting the woman at her Perth home on November 21/22 2023.
He was convicted of a second charge of threatening or abusive behaviour.
Sheriff Jennifer Bain KC deferred sentence for background reports.
She told Rashid: “You have been found guilty of sexually assaulting (the complainer) at her home address.
“She trusted you and she invited you into her home, where she should have been safe.
“You abused that trust by sexually assaulting her, despite her repeatedly telling you not to while trying to fend you off.
“And when you eventually did stop, you continued to abuse her as you left the flat and when you were outside.
“You persistently sent her numerous messages of the most dreadful, insulting, nasty and threatening nature – despite knowing how vulnerable she was.”
Rashid, of Dunkeld Road, was placed on the sex offenders register.
Sheriff Bain allowed bail to continue but warned this was “no indication of what the final sentence may be.”
The night ‘took a devastating turn’
Rashid, who described himself as part-time manager at a city centre takeaway, tried to persuade jurors he was the one who had been wronged.
He said that evening he messaged the woman, who he knew through mutual friends, and asked if she wanted to hang out.
“We had a few drinks and then the night took a devastating turn,” he said.
Rashid claimed the woman suggested going out to get drugs.
They met a man in a supermarket car park who gave them two ecstasy tablets, he said.
The woman said they had been trying to buy cocaine but ended up being given ketamine.
They went back to her flat and were “just chilling,” said Rashid.
When he took the drugs, he said he had a “euphoric” feeling.
“My chin was swinging from side to side… I didn’t like it.”
999 call played to jury
Rashid denied sexually assaulting the woman, claiming he left the flat of his own accord after she had a “shift in mood” and there was an argument.
“I immediately left the property,” he told the trial.
“I just wanted to go home, get into bed, smoke marijuana and get to sleep.”
In reality, he erupted after being told to leave.
Once outside, he realised he had forgotten his mobile phone.
Jurors were played audio from the distraught woman’s 999 call.
In the background, Rashid is heard shouting for his phone back.
“I was shouting up to the window,” he told jurors. “She came to the window in hysterics, with tears in her eyes.”
He claimed when he saw a police van turning into the street, he assumed she had reported him but he could not explain what he thought he was being reported for and was unable to tell jurors why the woman would lie about being sexually assaulted.
“I was confused,” he said. “I thought it was an over-reaction to an argument.”
Told woman to tell police ‘what I did to you’
When Rashid’s phone was returned to him, he used it to bombard her with a series of messages that even he described as “horrible”.
In one, he appeared to refer to a suicide attempt.
“Shame you never tied the rope tighter,” he wrote.
In a particularly incriminating text, when referring to police involvement, Rashid told her: “Tell them my address and what I did to you.”
When asked by fiscal depute Lee-Anne Barclay what he meant, he said: “Not sure, maybe to do with the argument or something.”
“Given the context and where you are now, this message doesn’t look very good, does it?” she asked.
“No, I agree it doesn’t,” he replied.
People affected by content in this article can contact Samaritans for free by phone on 116123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit samaritans.org to find the nearest branch.
