TEENAGER JAILED FOR RAPE IN ST GEORGES
A 19-year-old refuse collector from St Georges has received a prison sentence after being convicted of rape.Mitchell Moir was found guilty by a jury at Exeter Crown Court today and sentenced to two years in jail.
Moir maintained that he had unintentionally engaged in sexual activity with a woman, claiming he merely had sex ‘for a second’ while she was hugging him as she slept.
He denied the allegations of rape against the now 22-year-old woman during the trial.
The court was informed that Moir was babysitting for her when she went out socialising in September 2009.
Prosecutor Sean Brunton stated that the woman returned to her Devon home around 2am after drinking, and Moir had asked to have sex with her twice.
She refused, and he subsequently went to sleep on the sofa.
At 6am, after her baby started crying, the woman asked Moir to care for the child while she rested.
Later, he reportedly went into her bedroom, removed all his clothes, and got into her bed.
The following day, the woman confided in her mother that she believed Moir had sexual contact with her while she was asleep.
Police obtained DNA evidence linking Moir to the crime through swabs taken from the woman.
The jury was also told that Moir had told his uncle he thought police would soon arrest him for rape.
During a police interview, Moir claimed that the victim had grabbed him around the back and pulled him toward her, which he said inadvertently resulted in penetration, suggesting that the hugging caused the sexual act.
As part of his sentence, Moir was placed on the sex offenders’ register.