T in the Park sex attacker walks free on drug plea

A MAN who admitted sexually assaulting three women at T in the Park has avoided a jail term after a jury accepted his claim that he’d taken so many drugs he was ‘on planet Pluto’ at the time.

An aerial image of the T in the Park festival. Picture: Complimentary

The jury at Perth Sheriff Court believed Sean Devenney had been given drugs by a stranger at the music festival in Balado in July of this year.

Fiscal Depute Stuart Richardson told the court ‘This is a relatively unusual case. You have heard from the witnesses what went on in the campsite.

“No one is arguing whether he was responsible for those things. It appears that although these things took place and he was, without doubt, responsible for doing them, he claims he can’t be held responsible because he had no intention.

“If you take alcohol or drugs it is your lookout, your responsibility for what you do after taking these things. But he says he was, in some way, fed them by some other party.

“The only possibility is that this mystery man, in a bright yellow tracksuit, has kindly decided to feed Mr Devenney drugs - without any charge - just for a laugh.

“This is a man who was rendered into such a condition he has no recollection of what went on.”

Devenney, 18, had admitted entering a stranger’s tent at the music festival and dropping his trousers, before climbing on top of a teenage girl telling her he was going to have sex with her.

He also accepted sexually assaulting three different girls, and carrying out a solo sex act in front of others.

The jury heard that the girls were still in their pyjamas when Devenney, from Clydebank, burst into their tent at around 10am.

However, Mr Richardson said that after he was stopped from carrying out the attacks, Devenney had only talked about drugs, adding: “He said this was what T in the Park was all about.”

Solicitor Philip Lafferty, defending, said: “I accept the correct person is sitting in the dock because he is the person responsible for carrying out these awful things.

“Did he know what he was doing? He was described by more than one witness as ‘out of his face.’

“One of the gentlemen who helped at the tent entrance said it was ‘like he was in a trance’.

“He was topping it off by declaring he was on ‘planet Pluto’. That is a sign of somebody who is just not in his right mind, who is divorced from reality and not in control.

“It can’t be disputed he made claims to a number of people that he had taken eccies, he had taken drugs. He said he had taken everything from 25 to 25 million.”

Rape campaigners have called for changes to the law in recent months, with a Rape Crisis spokesman telling the Daily Record: “While we do not comment on individual cases, we know not proven verdicts are used more in rape and sexual assault than in any other crime.

“Juries can be notoriously reluctant to convict, even where there is significant evidence, and we are concerned the not proven verdict could contribute to wrongful acquittals, which can be devastating for victims and their families.

“The Scottish Government have said they will review this at a future date and we welcome that move.”