Scottish Man Cleared Of Rape Charges Said He Suffers From 'Sexsomnia'

A Scottish man was cleared of rape charges Wednesday after he claimed he was suffering from “sexsomnia.”

Reports said Lawrence Barilli, 35, who is on trial at Glasgow High Court after being charged with assaulting and raping the woman he was in a relationship with, told the court he was a ‘disgusting human being’ but it was 'ludicrous' to suggest he was a rapist.

The 35-year-old was charged with assaulting and raping two women between 2008 and 2012. The locations of the assaults included Shettleston, Glasgow, and Uddingston, South Lanarkshire. He was cleared of two rape charges after a jury said the charges were not proven.

The women gave evidence earlier in the case and claimed they suffered physically and sexually at the hands of Barilli. The women also alleged Barilli told them he suffered from a condition called "sexsomnia."

According to RT, one woman said the former Royal Air Force serviceman pounced on her “a couple of hundred times” while she was initially asleep in bed. She added he told her that he had a condition that “made him do it."

But Barilli insisted at the hearing that he had “no memory” of what happened. “He said it was sexsomnia. I would wake up with him having sex with me,” she told the court. “I did not really know what to think. I thought it was something that he was trying to spice up the relationship. It was silent throughout … I did not like it.”

The woman added the first incident happened months after they had met each other. “I basically asked him what last night was about.‘What are you talking about?’ He said. I said ‘Having sex through the night,’ — but he said he had no memory of it."

He told the woman his general practitioner had diagnosed him with the disorder. “I told him that I had never heard of [sexsomnia], but I looked it up online,” she said. “He just said ‘Well, I have got it.’”

According to Sexomnia.org, a website that offers support and information on the disorder, Sexsomnia, or sleep sex, is a rare condition where a person engages in sexual activity while sleeping. These activities could involve masturbation, or initiating sexual contact with a partner.

When the defense attorney, Tony Graham, asked if Barilli had sex with the second woman when she was 'awake', Barilli replied: "Every single time - always when she agreed."

When the advocate said Barilli might have treated the woman like a 'possession' the accused told the court: 'It is absolutely ludicrous that she could say something like that. Rape is absolutely abhorrent. I am not a rapist. It is lunacy,” the Daily Mail reported.

He also stated that it was '100 percent consensual' with the first woman as well.

Barilli was, however, found guilty of physical abuse of the women, after he admitted to assaulting the women subjecting them to almost daily attacks, and could still face a jail term during the trial next month.