Anouar Ben Said

A married barman from Tunisia, Anouar Ben Said, has been jailed following his conviction for raping a teenage girl near a popular music and wedding venue in Oban. The incident occurred in the early hours of August 13, 2021, when the 36-year-old off-duty hotel worker attacked his 19-year-old victim after she had spent six hours drinking with colleagues at a local pub.

According to details presented at the High Court in Stirling, Ben Said pounced on the terrified young woman in bushes adjacent to the car park of The Corran Halls. He placed his hand over her mouth, removed her clothing, and raped her, leaving behind his DNA as evidence. The prosecutor, David Logan, described the ordeal as “a nightmare” for the victim, who was left distressed and physically marked by the attack.

Ben Said, who was living in Oban at the time, pleaded not guilty to the charge of rape, claiming the encounter was consensual. However, over a three-day trial, jurors heard compelling testimony that contradicted his account. Witnesses reported seeing the victim sprinting out of the bushes, screaming and crying, with scratches on her face from twigs and branches as she fled through the undergrowth. She collapsed distraught in the car park upon finding people she knew and later recounted the assault.

Judge Lord Weir instructed the jury that they could consider the victim's evident distress as part of their deliberations. The jury, consisting of eight men and seven women, deliberated for under three hours before returning a unanimous guilty verdict. Lord Weir revoked Ben Said's bail and deferred sentencing until January 12 at the High Court in Edinburgh, describing the crime as “a very serious and concerning rape”. Andrew Crosbie, defending the convicted sex offender, reserved his mitigation arguments for the upcoming hearing.

The case was reported by The Press and Journal, highlighting the predatory nature of the attack in a public area near a well-known community venue in Oban, Argyll and Bute.