A man who claimed he was suffering from “sexsomnia” has been cleared of raping his partner.

Lawrence Barilli is said to have stated to the woman the condition “made him do it”.

She told jurors that such incidents occurred “a couple of hundred times” during their relationship.

But Barilli insisted he had “no memory” of what happened.

He was charged with assaulting and raping the woman between September 2011 and October 2012.

The incidents are said to have occurred in a number of locations including Glasgow’s Shettleston and Uddingston, South Lanarkshire.

But a jury returned a not proven verdict to the rape charge.

The woman – also 35 – started dating Barilli after the break-up of a previous long-term relationship.

Prosecutor Peter Ferguson QC asked was there anything “sexual” that caused her “upset”.

She claimed the first incident happened months after they had been together.

She recalled: “I would wake up with him having sex with me.

“I did not really not 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 said it was the next morning she confronted Barilli.

She told the trial: “I basically asked him what last night was about. He said: ‘what are you talking about?’.

“I said having sex through the night – but he said he had no memory of it.”

The woman claimed when it happened again she felt she was not able to “stop him”.

Jurors heard Barilli later said he had been “diagnosed with a condition that makes him do that”.

The woman explained: “He said it was sexsomnia.”

Mr. Ferguson asked her: “Did he suggest if he had been diagnosed by a qualified person?”

The witness: “Yes – his GP.”

The evidence was heard yesterday at the trial of the 35-year-old at the High Court in Glasgow.

The defendant, of Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, was further accused of assaulting and raping another partner between 2008 and 2010.

The jury returned not proven verdicts for the two rape charges.

source: independent.co.uk