David Goodwillie's 'regret' over night which led to rape allegation

Former Scotland striker David Goodwillie told a court today he regretted leaving a flat where a woman who has accused him of rape was after she earlier had sex with him and a teammate.

David Goodwillie pictured during his time with Aberdeen. Picture: SNS

The footballer said: “I do regret leaving. I do think if I stayed no one would have been here today.”

“I just think waking up somewhere where you don’t know where you are, it must have been terrifying,” he said.

The woman is now suing Goodwillie and former Dundee United colleague David Robertson for damages in a civil action claiming she was raped by both in the early hours of the morning of January 2 in 2011. Both men deny the allegation.

Dorothy Bain QC, for Goodwillie, asked if he thought at any stage the woman was not consenting to what took place and he replied: “No.”

The senior counsel asked him: “At any time did you think she was too drunk, too intoxicated to consent to what you were doing?”. He said: “No.”

She said: “Did she ever say she didn’t want to have sex with you?”. The Plymouth Argyle player said: “No.”

Goodwillie, who married earlier this year, told the court that he and Robertson had played for Dundee United in a New Year game on January 1 against Aberdeen that year when he had scored a later equaliser.

He said he would say he was doing well with Dundee United as a 21-year-old at the time and thought he might have left in the transfer window that January.

He told the court: “Then all this happened and nothing happened. I think it would have been Rangers at the time.”

He said that after he was charged all contact broke down. The player was subsequently not prosecuted.

Goodwillie said he had planned to go out in his home town of Stirling that evening after the match with a cousin for a few drinks, But he said the first bar was “dead” and arrangements were made to meet up with Robertson in Bathgate, in West Lothian.

They were heading for the Glenmavis Tavern, also known as Smiths, and were driving up the town’s main street when they saw two women and asked directions. One of them was the woman now suing him who was out for evening with a friend.

Goodwillie said the women indicated they were going to the same pub. He and his cousin had joined Robertson and a group of his friends in the bar.

He was asked if he had seen the women in the front bar at the pub and said: “We would have been in the same group and crossed paths.”

Goodwillie said on an evening out like that he would normally have a couple of beers then move onto spirits. “I think I was drinking vodka Red Bull at the time,” he said.

Miss Bain asked if he had met up with the two women in the back bar at the premises and he said: “Yes, I think that’s when we established each others names.”

He was asked if he found either of them attractive and said: “Yes, I did. I thought both of them were attractive.” He said he had been speaking a bit more to the other woman.

After the pub they moved on to Chalmers nightclub in the town. He said: “I would probably say I was drunk.” He said he did not even know the name of the club but was just following the group.

He said that in the club the woman who has now accused him of rape bought him a drink and he was dancing with her friend.

Goodwillie agreed that after the club he was hoping to go on to a flat in Armadale with Robertson and the two women.

He was asked how the woman suing him seemed to him. He said: “She seemed fine. She was drunk just like us, but no worse off than any of us.”

A taxi was flagged down and the woman got in with the two footballers, but her friend did not want to go and said she was tired, he told the court.

He said that during the taxi journey he thought the woman was “drunk, but she was fine, speaking, in conversation”.

He said that initially all three went to the living room in the flat but Robertson and the woman left the room. He said his phone battery was low and he was looking for a charger. He went into a room where Robertson and the woman were kissing.

The footballer said he was “just drunk” and went into the room and “one thing led to another”.

He said he thought Robertson said to the woman ‘are you OK with him in the room’ and she said she was OK with that.

He said he sat on the edge of the bed and the woman had reached over to him. He said she was touching him “in the private areas” and he began to unbutton his jeans and pull them down.

Goodwillie said: “I got on the bed. She is facing away from Robbo. I think they were having sex at this stage. She was facing away, crouching down and Robbo is behind her.”

He said the woman started performing oral sex on him. Miss Bain asked him if had sensed that she was unhappy about that or did not know what she was doing. he replied: “No.”

Goodwillie (27) said he thought that Robertson’s phone had vibrated. The sex stopped and Robertson left the room but returned shortly afterwards and asked him and the woman if they were OK together and they both replied fine.

Robertson said he had to leave but never gave an explanation. Goodwillie was asked how the woman reacted and said: “I don’t think she was happy.”

He said after his then teammate left he and the woman were kissing and that led to intercourse. Afterwards she went to the bathroom and he heard her giggling.

He said she then went to another bedroom and got under the covers. He had spoken to her and told her he wanted to go home, but she said she was staying

“I didn’t want to leave her there either. She was having none of it and wanted to stay,” he said.

Goodwillie said he thought she swore at him when he left. He told the court: “I think she said ‘Fuck off then’.”

He made his way back to his car in Bathgate and drove back to Stirling.

Simon Di Rollo QC, for the woman, asked him at what point in the evening he had formed the intention to have intercourse with her. He replied: “It wasn’t until I was in the room.”

He asked him if he had no intention of having sex with her when they were in the taxi and he replied: “No.”

Mr Di Rollo said: “Did you say in the taxi ‘I have got to do my duty’?”. Goodwillie said: “No. I don’t remember saying that.”

Goodwillie agreed that he had been interested in the other woman who had been on a night out and that she turned him down.

The 30-year woman is suing former Goodwillie and ex-St Johnstone player Robertson after raising a £500,000 damages claim at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. The court was told that the amount of compensation to be paid to the woman if she succeeds in the action has been agreed. The sum was not disclosed.

The woman, who gave evidence earlier in the case, returned to court today to listen to Goodwillie’s testimony.

In the case she alleges that both men raped her in the early hours of January 2 in 2011 at a flat in Armadale, in West Lothian. It is claimed that she was incapable because of the effect of alcohol of giving free agreement at the time when intercourse took place.

She had gone out for the evening in nearby Bathgate with a friend and been at a pub and Chalmers nightclub. It is said she left the club shortly after 2 am and was “visibly and obviously severely intoxicated”.

It is said the footballers offered her a lift home in a taxi they had hailed but the driver was requested to drop all three at a flat in Armadale.

In the action for the woman it is said: “The defenders (Goodwillie and Robertson) took the pursuer into the flat and raped her there in the early hours of the morning. Both defenders were aware of sexual conduct of the other toward the pursuer.”

It is alleged that neither of the men had a reasonable belief that she consented to sexual intercourse.

It is claimed that the woman was left in the flat unconscious. She woke later in the morning alone and naked.

Former Blackburn Rovers player Goodwillie and Robertson, of Bathgate, deny the allegation and maintain that intercourse was consensual. Neither was prosecuted.

They claim that CCTV footage shows the woman was capable of walking, holding a conversation and using her mobile phone.

It is said she engaged in conversation and walked without difficulty from the taxi to the flat at Greig Crescent, Armadale.

The woman, who is designed as care of an Edinburgh solicitors firm, is said to suffered “hate mail” on the internet. She earlier told the court that one person made a threat which resulted in a prosecution.

The hearing before Lord Armstrong continues.

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