Soldier denies rape of Chepstow woman

Tobias Paul Scott, 31, of Dennison Barracks, Hermitage, Thatcham, appeared in Cardiff Crown Court yesterday accused of raping the woman.

The woman claims she awoke in the early hours to find Scott having sex with her.

The court heard both had consumed some alcohol, although the woman says she did not drink a lot as she had a headache.

Scott denies the charge and says the sex was consensual.

The court was read text message exchanges between the two, in which Scott jokingly said he would get the woman drunk and ‘take advantage of her’ and a text received by the woman following the alleged incident where Scott said he was ‘sorry’.

Janet McDonald, prosecuting, told the court the pair had exchanged flirty texts for some time.

One text from the defendant to the woman before the alleged incident said: “I might have to bring a bottle and get you drunk so I can take advantage.”

The court was shown video footage from the woman’s police interview.

In it, she described how Scott kept trying to kiss her, but she had made it clear that nothing would happen between the two that night.

The jury heard the woman had fallen asleep fully dressed watching tv and when she woke up she was disorientated and confused.

In her interview, the woman said: “I could hear him breathing and he had his hand on my hip.

“I told him to stop, and he didn’t, but I know he heard me.”

She said at that point she jumped off the sofa.

“I couldn’t believe what had happened, I did not want to talk to him, I couldn’t even look at him,” she said.

“He said to me, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do it.”

The next day, she said, the defendant texted her asking if she was ok. She replied ‘you raped me’ and he sent back a single word text – ‘sorry’.

He then sent another, which read ‘I really did not mean it that way. I didn’t know what I was doing.’ The woman added: “There’s no way he didn’t know what he was doing, because he put thought into it, to pull my clothes down and not wake me.”

Proceeding.