Today, in our Crime On Your Street series, RACHEL LOXTON meets a woman who saw her attacker jailed - thanks to Facebook

THE morning after Kate was raped she made her attacker breakfast – a slice of dry toast and orange juice.

It is an action the 28-year-old call centre worker from Glasgow regreted because it was questioned so often in court – and she believed it might influence the jury's decision.

But she says it was only to stop John from raping her again.

"I woke up beside him the night after it happened and all I could feel was the hand pulling at my pyjama bottoms again," Kate said.

"I jumped up and ran into the kitchen.

"I gave him breakfast and asked him why he did it.

"He said: 'A president or a king can take a woman whenever he wants, why can't I?'

"He also said that I was so sexy he couldn't help himself – then he exposed himself."

This is when Kate says she "absolutely lost it" and ordered him to leave her West End flat.

The night before he had stood at her door with a box of chocolates. They had previously been seeing each other for about a month, but Kate had ended the relationship a few weeks before the attack because of his "strange behaviour".

Kate said: "Afew days after he met me he was telling me he loved me and said he wanted me to have his babies." However, because John was unemployed Kate had typed up his CV for him as a favour.

She said: "He asked to visit me and I just thought, 'What could happen? It would be nice to have a friend.'"

"He turned up about 9pm with a box of chocolates. We were getting along as friends."

John asked to stay over so Kate got him a duvet cover and a pillow.

"I changed into a pair of pyjamas and went to bed because I had work at 8am the next day," she said.

Within 10 minutes he was at her bedroom door.

"He got into my bed and was pulling at my pyjama bottoms.

"I got the waistband and wrapped it so far round my fingers so he couldn't get them, but he managed to get them completely off me.

"I was saying, 'No, what you doing?'"

Kate said she then ran half-naked into her living room in tears.

John apologised and a shaken Kate returned to her bedroom and put her clothes back on. But John followed her.

Kate said it looked like his eyes had "glazed over" and it was then he raped her.

After the attack Kate lay sobbing.

She said: "When he finished he stood up and he had his back to me and said: 'That was unfair. It was like you were saving yourself for someone else.'"

Kate cried herself to sleep as John slept next to her.

After he left her flat Kate went for a shower and "completely collapsed".

She said: "I went to work that day on autopilot."

The attack happened on a Friday night. She didn't tell anyone until Monday.

"I finally told my friend everything that had happened.

"I kept saying he took advantage of me. I couldn't say rape," said Kate.

"But she told me about the Not Ever rape campaign and I realised it wasn't me."

Kate felt angry and sent a message to John on the internet social networking site Facebook, saying what he did was wrong.

She said: "He finally admitted it. He said: 'I admit it. I raped you, I'm sorry.'

"But after that he sent me another message saying he wanted to see me."

This prompted Kate's fear and she phoned Rape Crisis, who referred her to Archway, Scotland's only sexual assault referral centre.

She was given a forensic examination at Archway and began regular counselling sessions.

"I suddenly felt this pressure that he was a dangerous man and I should go ahead and report it," Kate said.

The following Thursday she went to the police and gave a statement and John was detained the next morning. That was in June 2010

In the lead-up to the trial, which was in January last year, Kate lost weight and began pulling her hair out due to stress.

"I don't know what was harder, the rape or the trial," she admitted.

"I couldn't feel anything, so when I was pulling out my hair it was reminding me that I could feel."

Kate went for two court visits before the trial to prepare herself.

The trial lasted two weeks and Kate was questioned over two days.

She said: "The defence lawyer was very, very stern.

"I was accused of doing it for the money, but I had signed a form saying I hadn't claimed any criminal injuries.

"It was so thorough, but I tried my best not to cry.

"I just thought everybody was there to play to a part."

Kate was questioned on why she didn't make a phone call immediately and why she made breakfast for John.

She said: "I broke down completely during my break, I was sick in one of the bins."

Then the court began focusing on Facebook.

"All the evidence was Facebook, Facebook, Facebook," Kate said.

"I was thinking, 'Why are they not focusing on what happened to me? Why is it all about Facebook? Facebook didn't rape me, he did."

What Kate did not realise was that the social networking site held the crucial evidence: his confession.

John Ssewagudde, who was then 21, was found guilty on January 21, 2011 and was sentenced to four years behind bars.

Kate said: "I went to the sentencing. He smiled at me when he was being taken away. I felt frightened but happy."

The whole experience has changed Kate.

She is in a new relationship, and volunteers in courts and is planning to go back to university.

"Looking back it was the hardest thing to go through, but it was life changing," she said.

"I think attitudes need to change because I thought it was all my fault.

"But now I know he had no right to rape me."

l The victim's name has been changed to protect her identity.