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British Army corporal, 28, is found guilty of raping, strangling and urinating on woman he had met on a dating app and faces ‘substantial’ jail time
- Sam Evans, 28, ordered the victim to undress before he raped her, the jury heard
- The prosecutor warned jurors that the details of the case would be ‘unpleasant’
A soldier has been found guilty of raping a young woman he met on a dating app, and urinating on her after a night out in Plymouth.
Sam Evans, 28, a Corporal in 29 Commando, Royal Artillery Regiment, a British Army unit based in Plymouth, denied seven charges in relation to an incident on July 3 last year.
A jury at Plymouth Crown Court found him guilty of one count of rape; two counts of assault by penetration; one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm; and one count of intentional strangulation.
He was found not guilty of a second count of rape and a third count of assault by penetration.
At the beginning of the trial, prosecutor Daniel Pawson-Pounds warned jurors that the details of the case would be ‘unpleasant’.
Sam Evans, 28, a Corporal in 29 Commando, Royal Artillery Regiment, a British Army unit based in Plymouth, denied seven charges in relation to an incident on July 3 last year
The trial heard how Evans had connected with the victim on a dating app and the pair exchanged messages via a social messaging app, having swapped numbers, but had never met until the early hours of July 3 last year.
The woman told the jury that she recalled very little from the moment she left a Plymouth nightclub until she ‘came around’ on a bed in Evans’s flat. She went on to claim that Evans repeatedly assaulted her, both physically and sexually, and urinated on her.
Jurors watched a video recording of the victim – who cannot be named for legal reasons – being interviewed by specially-trained detectives before she gave her tearful evidence in court.
The court heard how Evans had taken the woman back to his flat, where he ordered her to take down her jeans and underwear before he raped and choked her.
During the woman’s evidence she explained how Evans had spat in her face and eyes, and at one point urinated onto her. He also forced a vibrator on her.
The ordeal played out despite others being in the main room of the property, with a flatmate in the adjacent room, the court heard.
The jury of four women and seven men took a total of 12 hours and 51 minutes to reach their verdicts.
Earlier, after 9 hours and 17 minutes of deliberation, Judge Robert Linford directed that he would accept majority verdicts.
The court heard how Evans had taken the woman back to his flat, where he ordered her to take down her jeans and underwear before he raped and choked her
A jury at Plymouth Crown Court were warned by prosecutor Daniel Pawson-Pounds that details of the case would be ‘unpleasant’
The jurors – some clearly in emotional distress – returned to find Evans guilty of vaginal rape by a 10 to 2 majority. They also found him guilty of assault by penetration using his fingers on a 10 to 2 majority.
They found him unanimously guilty of assault by penetration using the vibrator; assault occasioning actual bodily harm – by slapping her around the face and head – and intentional strangulation.
Evans was found not guilty of oral rape and not guilty of a second count of assault by penetration using his fingers.
As the verdicts were read out there were gasps from Evans’s friends and family in the public gallery. He was seen to place his hands over his mouth and nose, bending over in the dock.
Judge Linford said he wanted a probation report to ascertain Evans’s ‘dangerousness’. Evans, of Ker Street, Devenpor, Plymouth, will be sentenced on April 3.
He warned Evans he would face an ‘inevitable substantial custodial sentence’ and remanded him into custody.
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