SNS GroupA Scots footballer jailed for a sex attack on a sleeping woman has been granted an appeal hearing.
Salim Kouider-Aissa preyed on his 23-year-old victim at a flat in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire on October 31 2021.
The 27 year-old had denied the crime, but was found guilty by jurors following a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court in May.
Kouider-Aissa was later sacked by his club Airdrie.
He went on to be locked up for two years when he returned to the dock last month.
The footballer was also put on the sex offenders list for ten years.
Kouider-Aissa’s legal team – led by solicitor advocate Graeme Brown – have been granted leave to appeal the conviction.
A court appeal hearing will take place later this year.
The victim told jurors how she he met Kouider-Aissa at a friend’s flat after a night out. She later went to a bedroom in the early hours.
Recalling her next memory, the woman stated: “I woke up and I could feel someone behind me, that is when I realised what he was doing.”
She described Kouider-Aïssa intimately touching her.
The victim added: “I went into bed myself and was shocked to have someone behind me.
“I was shouting ‘what are you doing’ and he said ‘I thought you were awake, what have I done’.
“It would not matter if I was as there was no consent.”
Kouider-Aissa said he had gone into the bedroom to “get a good sleep”.
He went on to claim he had a “belief she was consenting” to what he then did.
Sheriff Matthew Jackson KC told Kouider-Aissa he had effectively wrecked a career that “many can only dream of”.
He added: “The woman woke up to find herself being sexually assaulted by a man she barely knew in a horrific fashion.”
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