Tim Visser trial set for January 2028 after not guilty plea to rape charges

Tim Visser, the former Scotland wing, will go on trial in Edinburgh on Wednesday 12 January 2028. He is accused of raping, controlling and abusing a woman, and he has denied the charges.

Appearing for him at the High Court in Glasgow, defence counsel Ian Duguid told the court he denied every charge on the indictment. "It is a plea of not guilty to the indictment," Duguid told the court.

The charges

Visser, 39, faces four charges. The alleged offences are said to have happened in Edinburgh and at other locations from 2010 to 2024. According to two of the charges, he raped the woman several times, which includes having sex with her once she had withdrawn her consent.

Another charge alleges that he repeatedly behaved in a threatening and abusive way towards her. The allegations include taking intimate images of her without her consent and controlling her appearance, her money, her clothes and what she ate. Prosecutors also allege that he cut her off from her family and friends and was physically violent towards her.

The fourth charge alleges a course of abusive behaviour and sets out 26 separate claims. One of these alleges he shared an intimate image of the woman with a third party.

Prosecutors may also try to lead evidence about other alleged matters going back to 2004. At this stage these are not formal charges.

Playing career

Visser won 33 caps for Scotland and played on the wing for them from 2012 to 2017. He was born in the Netherlands but chose to play his international rugby for Scotland.

At club level he played for Edinburgh, and in England for Newcastle and Harlequins. He retired from rugby in 2019 and lives in Milton Bridge, Midlothian.