Royal Regiment of Scotland soldier sexually assaulted teenager on Lothian bus

The teenager was 16 when the assault occurred

A drunk Fijian soldier carried out a sex attack on a teenage girl as they travelled on the top deck of a bus.

Joape Kotobalavu, 29, forced himself on the victim by kissing and licking her on the face after sitting down next to her on the Lothian bus in Edinburgh.

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The teenager, who was just 16 at the time, was forced to jump over a seat as she fled from the attack in October 2022.

She gave evidence from behind a screen to a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court after Kotobalavu denied any wrongdoing.

She said the infantryman leaned in and put his arm around her and when she pulled away he had told her “It’s not like I’m going to rape or assault you”.

Alexander Lawrie

The court heard Kotobalavu is a serving soldier with the Royal Regiment of Scotland 2nd Battalion and is currently stationed at Dreghorn Barracks in Edinburgh.

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The serviceman is a Fijian national who has been in the UK since 2019 and though currently suspended, he was due to be deployed to Estonia next year.

The teenager told the trial she was waiting for the bus when Kotobalavu struck up a conversation with her outside Glencorse Barracks in Penicuik, Midlothian, at around 4pm on 29 October, 2022.

She said she could “smell the alcohol” on his breath and noticed he was slurring his words. She got on the bus and went upstairs where she was followed by the soldier who sat down next to her despite empty seats nearby.

The girl said she told him she was 16 but he kept pestering her saying he didn’t believe her, calling her “cup cake” and that he wanted her phone number.

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The trial was shown CCTV footage showing Kotobalavu touching the girl on the head and legs and leaning in to kiss and lick her on the face during the 15 minute bus journey.

She said the attack left her feeling “disgusted” and she was so scared she began recording what was happening and sent the footage to a work Snapchat group.

She said: “He was drunk and very much bigger than me, I didn’t want to aggravate him.

“I was too scared that if I said stop or no, you just don’t know where it was going to go. I was scared he would follow me. I look back on it and wish I had done more to stop it. I felt disgusted with myself.”

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She said she managed to jump over a seat and leave the bus before her intended stop and was in tears when she telephoned her mother to tell her what had happened.

Defence agent Colin Severin did not cross examine the girl and his client did not give any evidence to the court.

Following the evidence Sheriff Kathrine Mackie said she found the victim to be “a credible and reliable witness” and had given her evidence in “a wholly unexaggerated manner”.

Sheriff Mackie said: “The CCTV footage which has been shown demonstrates what [the girl] described.

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“I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the person [the girl] described, and that is seen on the CCTV footage, is the same Mr Kotobalavu who appears in the dock in front of me.

“I find Mr Kotobalavu guilty of this charge.”Kotobalavu was placed on the sex offenders register and sentence was deferred for the preparation of social work reports to next month.

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