SNS GroupA man sexually assaulted a woman who tried to comfort him after he became upset that he missed his wife.
James Brown, 75, attacked the victim at his home at Glazert Meadow, in Lennoxtown, in East Dunbartonshire, after an earlier chance meeting at a pub.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that the victim was making her way home after visiting a friend when she stopped in at the bar.
The 52-year-old said that Brown was in the pub and was “quite upset”. She said: “He said it was coming up to his wife’s anniversary and how much he missed her and how he stays in a big house and he is lonely. He was crying as well.”
The woman said: “He said he was feeling really down and he could be doing with some company.”
She said Brown invited her to his home for a drink and she agreed to that, noting that he was “very down”.
The woman said that after they arrived at the house they were in the kitchen. She told the court: “He was still crying about his wife and I actually gave him a cuddle.” She said the gesture was to comfort him.
She said she had a drink but afterwards felt “very dizzy, very hazy” and felt like she could not walk and asked if she could lie down on a couch.
She said Brown suggested that she go upstairs and have a sleep and he would use a guest room in the house.
The woman said: “I trusted him. I said yes I would lie down for a bit and then go home.”
Once upstairs, Brown came into the room where she was, gave her a shirt, said goodnight and turned off the light.
The woman said she changed into the shirt and folded up her own clothes and put them at the side of the bed.
The woman told the court she was feeling nauseous but fell asleep as soon as she put her head down, before she woke up in pain to find she was being sexually assaulted.
She said she jumped up and called him “a dirty b*****d”. She said she was shocked, contacted emergency services, got dressed and left.
The woman said that when police arrived she kept saying: “I can’t believe I was so stupid. I can’t believe I was so stupid.”
Brown denied sexually assaulting and raping the woman on October 22 in 2023 during a trial after lodging a special defence of consent.
He was acquitted by a jury of the rape of the victim but was convicted of a penetrative sexual assault of the woman.
Judge Thomas Welsh KC told him it still remained a serious offence and called for a background report to be prepared on Brown ahead of sentencing.
He told Brown that he would continue his bail and added: “I have to say to you custody is very much in my mind.”
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