Posted on 08/07/2007 5:25:25 PM PDT by BGHater
An RAF mechanic who claimed he was sleepwalking when he had sex with a 15-year-old girl was cleared of rape yesterday.
Senior Aircraftsman Kenneth Ecott, 26, broke down in tears after a jury took two hours to agree that he was not responsible for his actions.
Ecott did not deny having sex with the girl but said he had no memory of it happening.
Instead he insisted he had a condition known as 'sexsomnia' in which sufferers carry out indecent acts in their sleep.
It was this rare affliction which caused him to climb naked on top of the girl during a friend's birthday party sleepover, Bournemouth Crown Court was told.
The teenager screamed when she awoke. Ecott was said to have confessed to the girl's family and apologised for having sex with her. But when he was arrested later that day in his barracks at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, he told police he was prone to sleepwalking.
He claimed to have been in a state of 'automatism' while with the girl, meaning he was not aware of his actions.
This defence was supported by his girlfriend, who told the court that he had fondled her in bed while asleep.
The court was told that Ecott downed a a bottle of vodka last November at the party in Poole, Dorset, where guests slept on air beds in the living room.
The girl woke at 3am to find Ecott laying naked on top of her, screamed, then watched as he slowly got up and walked into the garden.
During his five-day trial, Ecott, who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said: "I was drunk and went to sleep, then I woke up and my life was over. I was standing outside, completely naked, wondering what the hell I was doing there.
"Everyone was asking, 'What have you done?' Sleep-walking is the only rational explanation for what I did."
Ecott said he had gained a reputation in the RAF for sleep walking and had the nickname Night Rider printed on a T-shirt.
Dr Irshaad Ebrahim, medical director of the London Sleep Centre, said factors such as tiredness, alcohol and stress can increase the chances of sexsomnia. 'Mr Ecott had recently come across from Afghanistan and had symptoms of jet lag and sleep deprivation. He had an excessive amount of drink during the course of the night.
"They were also sleeping so close to each other, someone could have kicked him or nudged him to precipitate an episode."
Ecott's girlfriend Georgina Dewdney recalled a number of occasions where she woke to find her partner "trying it on" with her while he slept. "On New Year's Eve we got into bed and he put his hand down the back of my pyjama bottoms and grabbed me.
"It made me jump and woke me up. When I told him about it the next morning his face went white and he was shocked. He said sorry, he didn't mean it and couldn't remember.
"Another time a couple of months later he put his arm around me and grabbed my boob. I moved his hand and turned around to looked at him but he was asleep."
The 40-year-old mother of the 15-year-old said she was shocked by the verdict.
"We just feel totally numb by it all. I don't believe that he was sleepwalking. I don't know what was going through his head.
"What worries and concerns me is that this verdict has given him a new lease of life to go and do it again to somebody else."
The person who thought up this excuse had a winner here. Now everyone can claim it and who's to prove they're lying? There's just no way to do it.
Yeah. I'm trying to picture myself in court in Idaho saying to a judge and jury - "OK, I drank a bottle of vodka, raped a 15-year-old girl, and ended up standing nekkid in the garden...but I'm really innocent!"
I might get out in time for Y3K. Or not.
A defendant was charged with burglary of an auto parts store. He insisted on testifying, and he spun the jury quite a yarn. "I'm a poor man," he said, "never owned a car. So I walked by this store at 2 a.m. and I noticed the door was open. Now I'm a poor man, never owned a car, and I was curious to see what the inside of an auto parts store looked like. So I walked in and looked around, and noticed this office door was open. So I walked in and there was a desk, and the drawer was open, and in the drawer was a cash box, and it had been broken open. Just as I was thinking, 'my goodness, there's been a burglary here!' the police SWOOPED down and arrested me."
The prosecutor looked at the defendant and said, "Mr. X, do you expect this jury to believe that story?"
The defendant gave him a quizzical look and said, "Well, it could possibly be true."
The courtroom just went nuts. The prosecutor cracked up, the jury was howling, the bailiff had his head down on the table . . . and the judge had to pretend to drop a pencil so he could get his head under the bench and have his laugh out.
Once they stopped laughing, they found him guilty.
Your wife attacks you while you are asleep, huh? Mine too. She says I never have complained, not once in 30 years!
A man named Ecott, a girl named Dewdney, vodka, sex, sleep-walking ...
Quick, someone, write a limerick.
Woman on “House, M.D.” had the same thing.
Somehow it seemed more attractive.
Oh I forget, it's England... hmm, well a maybe a condition that makes you grab a butcher knife and cut of the balls and other "parts" of rapists while you sleep.
Ping to Light Verse Brigade.
Some disorders are best cured with lead injections.
“Man, if I’m ever caught red-handed over a corpse with a smoking gun in my hand, I want this guy’s lawyer.”
LOL! Definitely ... funny thing, I believe the story!
“Let him to it to an “Asian” woman.”
He’s just got back from Iraq and Afghanistan. He probably has. Several times.
Hi Everyone,
I’d just like to reply to all the comments above about a certain RAF man that you are Discussing. I am his niece. I was there in the courtroom. And I want to make something clear to everyone before everyone starts a backlash on him, our family and the justice system. My uncle was found NOT GUILTY. Now this was not on the basis of him sleepwalking. he was found not guilty on the grounds that there was no evidence forensic or otherwise. The girl and her family and friends we’re all exposed as liars all of whom I know on a close personal level. My Uncle is a great wonderful careing man who unfortunately has been at the centre of a horrible ordeal but he has come through. Now I hope that the press and the public leave him be.
I’m sure most of the people typing derogatory remarks are doing so in a somnambulistic state and don’t really mean it.
There’s an RAF mechanic named Ecott,
And some 15 year old tail is what ‘e got.
Though innocent by jury,
this man should be worried,
‘Cause if I were the father, he’d be shot!
Did he actually have sex with the girl or just lay on top of her. It’s not entirly clear in the story.
LU....LU!!!!
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