FOOTBALLER David Goodwillie has insisted he is innocent after a judge ruled he raped a woman while she was incapable of giving consent.
The Ex-Dundee United striker, who currently plays for Plymouth Argyle in England, said he struggled to understand the verdict, and is considering an appeal.
Goodwillie, a former Scotland international, will have to pay damages of £100,000 along with fellow footballer David Robertson to Denise Clair after Lord Armstrong ruled they attacked her while she was intoxicated.
Ms Clair launched a case in the civil court after the Crown Office decided against pursuing criminal charges against the pair.
In a statement released through his solicitor, Goodwillie said: “I have spent the last six years and every penny I have fighting the allegations against me.
“I hoped that the opinion of Lord Armstrong would allow me finally to draw a line under this and move on with my life.
“I am devastated by his opinion.
“Over two days in the witness box I spoke honestly and truthfully and gave a detailed account, including under cross examination, about everything that happened on the evening of 1 January and early morning of 2 January 2011."
“I am struggling to understand why the judge has discounted my evidence and all of the other evidence of those who have said what they saw or heard that morning.
“I am currently taking advice on what options are open to me regarding lodging an appeal."
He added: “As a 21 year old I acted immaturely, naively and probably not as respectfully or with the same consideration towards someone I was with as I could have, and if that was the case I apologise for that."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel