A FORMER Scotland rugby international is to stand trial accused of rape.
Norman Pender yesterday appeared for a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow. He is charged with raping a girl on various occasions between 1990 and 1997 at two addresses in Hawick in the Borders. The alleged victim is said to have been aged between 12 and 19 at the time.
Mr Pender, 65, is also accused of two charges of using lewd and libidinous practices against the same girl, allegedly starting when she was eight. He is charged with sexually assaulting her on various occasions between 1994 and 1997. Mr Pender, also of Hawick, faces a final allegation of lewd and libidinous practices against a second girl between 1996 and 1997, said to have begun when she was nine.
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