ABERDEEN, Scotland (20 Feb 2008) — A civil engineer has been jailed for five years for raping a woman deckhand on a dive boat. A judge told Robert Wilson, of Cottingley, that he had subjected his victim to "a prolonged ordeal" in the attack aboard the vessel moored in an island harbour. Lord Emslie told him at the High Court in Edinburgh: "You have been convicted of raping a young girl when you must have realised she was in no fit state to resist your advances. "With the public interest in mind, this is the kind of offence of which this court has to take a serious view." Lord Emslie said despite Wilson being assessed as a low risk of re-offending, he considered he had no alternative but to jail him for the sex attack. Wilson, 36, was earlier found guilty of raping the 23-year-old woman on board a boat at Stromness harbour, in Orkney, on September 15 in 2006. advertisementHe assaulted the victim while she was under the influence of alcohol and at times unconscious. He removed her clothing, sexually assaulted her and repeatedly raped her. Wilson, of Main Street, Cottingley, had denied the offence but was convicted by a majority verdict. He had maintained that sex was consensual. Wilson was part of a group of scuba divers holidaying in Orkney and diving at Scapa Flow, where a First World War German battle fleet was sunk. On the last night of their holiday they went to a pub and invited the woman crew member. She said she could not remember leaving the bar. She told the court that she was not attracted to Wilson. Her memories of parts of the attack were "fuzzy". Wilson said he had asked if he could get into the woman's bunk and she let him in. He told police: "I'm not the type of person who goes around forcing himself on anybody." | | Robert Wilson has been sent to jail for five years after he was convicted of raping a woman working on a Scapa Flow liveaboard dive boat. Another member of the diving group said he had felt that Wilson wanted to have sex with the woman and stood on the hatch opening to her cabin to prevent him entering. He said Wilson was "very forceful" that he should go to the student's quarters and offer her a cup of tea. Witness Graham Owen, 45, said: "I didn't think a cup of tea was on his mind." defense solicitor advocate Richard Goddard said Wilson came from "a good, law-abiding background". He added that the consequences of the conviction were "really nothing short of catastrophic" for Wilson. Mr Goddard said: "He is facing inevitably a custodial sentence and in addition his career and personal life lie in ruins." Lord Emslie also ordered that Wilson should be placed on the sex offenders' register following his conviction for the rape. SOURCE - Telegraph & ArgusCDNN RELATED NEWSSCOTLAND - Liveaboard dive boat crew testifies holiday scuba diver raped herSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
