A teenager has been found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl under a tree in a park in Dundee.
Kevin Reid, 18, had denied carrying out the assault at South Road Park on November 17 last year.
However, a jury at the High Court in Livingston returned a majority verdict and convicted him of rape.
Reid was cleared of three further rapes and two sexual assaults by penetration involving three other young girls after ‘not proven’ verdicts.
Reid had claimed the complainers had conspired to get him into trouble by lying and read from a text message in which one of the girls threatened to “ruin” his life.
The jury heard evidence from the girl he was convicted of raping – who can’t be named for legal reasons – that she had been drinking heavily on the evening of the attack.
She said Reid repeatedly tried to hug her at a house party and told her things like: “Oh you’re so pretty. I want to sleep with you.”
After they parted company with other friends he started walking home with her.
But at the park he led her under a tree and sexually assaulted her on the grass.
She told the court: “Kevin was complaining about his hands being cold. He kept touching me on the leg and tried to roll on top of me.”
She said he put his hand down her trousers and asked to have sex with her, which she refused.
She said: “I tried to move his hand. I asked him to stop and he didn’t stop. I was scared.”
The girl said Reid then held her by the back of her neck and forced her into performing a sex act on him.
She tried to phone a female friend for help, but had the wrong number for her – and then her phone ran out of battery.
She told the jury: “I was crying quite a lot. I spoke to someone as soon as I got in.”
Reid flatly denied being at the park with the girl but DNA evidence from under the accused’s fingernails and a saliva swab from the girl’s neck where he had given her a “hickey” or “love bite” provided corroboration for the attack.
Sentence on the first offender was deferred for reports.
In addition to having his name added to the sex offenders register, details of Reid’s conviction will be notified to Scottish Ministers under Protection of Vulnerable Groups laws.
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