Footballer performed 'sex act on sleeping woman' before training, court hears

19 May 2023 , 11:29

1250     0

A 2019 file image of Salim Kouider-Aissa, who is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2021. (Image: Jeff Holmes/REX/Shutterstock)

A Scottish footballer went to training hours after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman while she slept, a court has been told.

Salim Kouider-Aissa, 27, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman at a flat in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on October 31, 2021.

He told a jury at Glasgow Sheriff Court that he had gone into the bed to have “a good sleep” but believed that the woman was consenting.

Kouider-Aissa had played for Airdrie away to Alloa the afternoon of the alleged incident and ended up getting injured.

He returned home before picking up some friends in Glasgow. From there they drove to the flat of another friend, Mr Scott Spinelli, where they drank and played music.

Man in 30s dies after being stabbed in park sparking police probe

Later that evening the alleged victim and a second woman came to the flat.

The woman went to sleep in Mr Spinelli’s spare room with Mr Kouider-Aissa planning to sleep on a sofa in the living room.

But Mr Kouider-Aissa said in his evidence that he had difficulty sleeping on the couch and the reason he got into bed beside the alleged victim was to “get a good sleep.”

Airdrie's Salim Kouider-Aissa, right, in action against Motherwell. (SNS Group)

The woman told the court that Mr Kouider-Aissa proceeded to touch her intimately.

She said: "I woke up really shocked, I went into bed myself and was shocked to have someone behind me.

"I was shouting 'what are you doing' and he said 'I thought you were awake, what have I done'.

"I didn't really know what to do, he went to get my friends for me. They came rushing in...he told them that he thought I was awake. It wouldn't matter if I was as there was no consent."

Mr Kouider-Aissa said he performed a sex act on the woman and told the court: "I had belief she was consenting by the way she was moving about the bed, moving her body to me."

The morning after he was picked up at about 8am by a team-mate, Max Currie, before going to training. From there he went to an uncle’s house to watch football on television before handing himself into police that night.

Kouider-Aissa told the court that he believes the woman was asleep after hearing her position during the trial.

Russian model killed after calling Putin a 'psychopath' was strangled by her ex

He added: "There obviously has to be doubts, to this day, it's been a while since... I still have a reasonable belief that she was awake for the last part and giving consent as well as that's obviously why we are here."

The trial continues.

Alan Smith