Boy raped pupils at his school for blind

A MAN faces jail for raping and sexually assaulting blind children while he was a schoolboy.

David Penman was 12 when he first targeted male and female pupils at the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh.

Penman, 42, attended the school from 1986 to 1991. All of his victims are blind or partially sighted, as he is.

Detective Inspector Kevin Harkins said: “This is an extremely unusual and disturbing case where a boy began committing serious sexual crimes against numerous classmates.

“Penman’s victims were among the most vulnerable young people and he left them too scared to speak up.

“His offences took place around the school grounds and our investigation built up a picture of a devious sexual predator who took particular care not to be caught by staff.”

He praised the victims’ bravery for coming forward and for testifying in court when Penman pled not guilty.

In September 2013, one of Penman’s victims told police he raped her. More victims came forward and he was charged with 17 offences of rape, indecent assault and breach of the peace.

He denied the attacks on fellow pupils in the 80s and 90s but was convicted by a jury yesterday at the High Court in Edinburgh.

In 2000, he was convicted of assault with intent to rape and rape.

Judge Lord Uist said: “It is clear to me from the convictions and your arrogant and dishonest performance in the witness box that you are a very evil man.”

He said it caused him “great concern” that sexual crimes had continued into Penman’s adult life.

Sentence was deferred until August 30 for reports. I FIRST found Maria Graham on a dusty shelf in the National Library of Scotland.

Researching historical adventurers is like mining for diamonds, you spend ages chipping through hard, dull, dark material and then there it is – a gem.

Born Maria Dundas in 1785, she had a difficult upbringing. Her family disliked her American-born mother and Maria’s father, Captain George Dundas – part of the great Dundas clan of Scottish naval officers – arranged for Maria to be separated from her mother and brought up by his relations.

She had a miserable time at a boarding school in Oxfordshire where she was punished for her enquiring mind, though one of her teachers slipped her books to read.

At 23, she travelled to India where her father was head of the British East India Company’s dockyard in what was then Bombay. On her way to join him, she fell in love with Thomas Graham, the third son of the Laird of Fintry who had been awarded a naval commission in India. They got married in 1809.

Unlike most naval wives, Maria wasn’t interested in keeping the home fires burning.

Instead, she travelled extensively with her husband while he undertook his duties and she wrote.

There’s something magical about someone who can really express themselves. Reading 200-year-old letters and journals is often boring – people didn’t express themselves succinctly and for many travellers, they were aware that if they died their papers would be sent home for their families to peruse. Most make themselves sound more goodygoody than they probably were. Not Maria. It’s no wonder she became one of Britain’s earliest pioneering travel writers. Her work was popular and sold in great numbers.

In 1811, her first book Journal of a Residence in India hit the shelves and this started a lifelong friendship with John Murray, Maria’s publisher. Murray was a mover and shaker and from his base in Albemarle Street, Piccadilly, he published almost every significant writer of the era from Byron to Jane Austen.

His drawing room was a hotbed of creative talent. Maria had a sunny nature and fitted in well.

Her letters to Murray are peppered with details about her books but also inquiries after the health of Murray’s children and wife, domestic queries and chatty news about mutual friends.

In 1819, Maria travelled to Italy and wrote Three Months Passed in the Mountains East of Rome. The next year, she wrote a book about the French painter, Nicolas Poussin.

Murray gave her generous advances, good editorial advice and published her manuscripts.

At this point, Maria’s husband was offered the command of HMS Doris.

His destination was Chile and his mission was to protect British trade in the area. South American links were growing with UK industry.

Maria decided to accompany her husband but at the tail end of the long trip across the Atlantic and round Cape Horn, Thomas contracted a fever and died. Maria was distraught but decided not to go home. Instead she rented a small cottage in Chile and wrote a book about the country.

As a result, in 1822, she was caught in one of Chile’s worst earthquakes.

With her optimistic, enquiring mind, instead of just being terrified, Maria formulated a theory about how to measure the earthquake.

Later, she would try to present her findings at the Royal Society in London but was prevented from doing so because she was a woman.

In the end, Charles Darwin backed her, insisting her theory was sound. Today, Maria’s calculations still form the basis of the way scientists measure earthquakes.

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