A BELFAST-based hockey player has been found guilty of a sex assault on a young woman in Scotland in May last year.
Colin Grimason (26) had denied the offence, which took place following a night out in Dumfries where his team the Belfast Prowlers had been playing in an ice hockey tournament.
During the trial at the High Court in Glasgow the woman told how she feared she was going to die after being dragged into an alleway.
The trial heard how Grimason and others had gone to a nightclub after playing in a competition. They left in the early hours of the morning andd he met his 26-year-old victim, who had lost her friends.
While the court heard they chatted and initially kissed, the woman said she made it clear she was not interested in having sex.
However, Grimason - who is also a retained fireman - pulled her into an alleyway, grabbed her neck and throttled her.
She was sexually assaulted and ended up on the ground with her underwear torn.
A friend who met her a short time later described her as "very upset and distressed".
The witness added: "She was crying. She had a bruise on her cheek and blood on her arm."
Police investigating the attack found the victim's car keys, phone, make up and ripped underwear in the alley.
Grimason, denied assaulting the woman saying: “When I left her, she was completely uninjured.”
Asked why a stranger would make up such a “wicked lie”, he claimed: “I have no explanation for that.”
Grimason slumped in the dock when the guilty verdict was delivered. He was remanded into custody to be sentenced next month.
