A JURY has been urged to believe the evidence of two young woman who claim they were abused and raped by a Cowdenbeath man when they were under age.

Although the Crown says there is more than enough evidence to convict David Ferguson, his defence counsel insisted the accused was not a “predatory paedophile” or “child molester”.

In his closing speech at the High Court in Livingston yesterday (Thursday), advocate depute Richard Goddard told the jury the required standard of proof had been achieved "with room to spare".

He said there were striking similarities between the experiences of both girls at the hands of Ferguson.

Both had been sexually assaulted before being stripped and raped in the accused's home, behaviour which he said was carried out for David Ferguson's own sexual gratification.

Mr. Goddard told the jury, "it's always rape if a man has sex with a girl under the age of 12 because a child in our law is just not capable of consent to that sort of behaviour - a girl pinned to the floor by a family friend, a man old enough to be her grandfather.

"Whether she was 14 and he was 55 years of age, stripping her and having sex on the bathroom floor, there's little prospect of any consent for that sort of behaviour.

“He appears to have taken advantage of them in really the most appalling of ways.” He reminded the jury of the 24-year-old girl's testimony about being raped for the final time by Ferguson when she was just 11.

He quoted her as saying, "I remember him being really rough. I was really, really sore. I was crying. He didn't seem bothered "

He reminded the members of the jury that the second girl had had nothing to do with Ferguson since the day of 15th birthday, when she said he raped her in his bathroom.

He said there was clear and compelling corroboration of each girls' experience in the “extraordinary and overwhelming” similarities in their accounts of abuse.

He added, "They are so similar because they suffered the same fate at the hands of the same man."

However, Gordon Martin, defending, asked the jury to believe Ferguson's denials to the police when he was first confronted with the allegations.

He suggested one of the alleged victims might have been motivated by the possibility of compensation and the other because her dad was "gunning for him".

He highlighted that one of the girls couldn't remember how many times she's been raped, commenting, "That's a pretty basic thing to remember."

And he said the Crown had failed to dismiss Ferguson's claim that he couldn't have committed the offences because he suffered from erectile disfunction.

He said, "He tells police he's never mentioned it to the doctor because it's a bit embarrassing. Take a long hard look at Mr Ferguson, do you think he's clever enough? This case could have been investigated by Sherlock Holmes because that's Moriarty over there!"

He added, "The Crown would have you accept the David Ferguson is a predatory paedophile who takes advantage of small children or adolescent women in the privacy of his own home where there are no witnesses, a predatory child molester.

"But he does things in front of others at the back door. That's not very intelligent if you want to make sure you're not caught out.

"He also meets people off the bus and takes them up a common close to touch them up and kiss them.

“These things maybe jar in your assessment of these witnesses because these particular actions go against the picture that the Crown want you to accept.

"The Crown a has failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that David Ferguson is guilty of any of the charges on the indictment."

Ferguson (60) denies two charges of rape, two indecent assaults and one charge of lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour dating back 20 years.

The crown alleges that the offences were committed against tw under age girls at his home in Blamey Crescent, Cowdenbeath, and at other locations in Fife between August 27, 1994 and January 16, 2009.

The trial, before Lord Kinclaven, continues.