Sentence welcomed as police praise Katie’s courage after brutal attack
A RAPE victim has welcomed the 10-year jail term imposed on the masked stranger who attacked her in a park.
Heinous Alasdair McDonald, 49, watched pornography in his flat hours before brutally assaulting Katie Johnston, who has courageously given up her right to anonymity.
Unemployed McDonald, from Aberdeen, was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday. Lord Arthurson told the beast his “abhorrent” crime had “a profound and traumatic impact” on his victim.
Speaking from her home in Aberdeen, 21-year-old Katie said she was “very happy” with the sentence.
She added: “Obviously no amount of time would be enough. But 10 years is a good enough time for him to be off the streets so he doesn’t have the opportunity to do this again.”
In court, the judge referred to BY CHARLIE GALL and JAMES MULHOLLAND Katie’s victim impact statement. It read: “The crime has scared me to my very core – I think about what happened that night every single day.
“The individual who did this to me has left me with an overwhelming feeling of sadness and emptiness.”
But despite her horrendous ordeal in Aberdeen’s Union Terrace Gardens at 3am on January 28, 2016, Katie is determined not to let it ruin the rest of her life.
The trial heard Katie, who was on her way home, sat down on a park bench and started texting a friend when McDonald pounced.
The masked pervert forced her to the ground, repeatedly struck her on the head, restricted her breathing by seizing her nose and then dragged her into nearby bushes before raping her. A police surgeon who examined Katie after the assault said she had suffered the “worst internal injuries” he’d dealt with during his career.
DNA found on a piece of her clothing and CCTV footage helped to bring McDonald to court.
When he was initially spoken to by police as a potential witness, McDonald tried to shift the blame. He lied about his whereabouts and claimed: “I saw a black man walking away.”
Iain Paterson, defending, said McDonald had tried to plead guilty to a lesser charge before the start of his trial “but this was unacceptable to the Crown”.
Lord Arthurson ordered McDonald to be supervised for three years after his release.
Inspector Sheila McDerment, who led the police investigation, also welcomed the sentence.
She said: “McDonald will now have to face the consequences of his brutal and terrible actions.
“Above all, I want to thank the victim for the courage she has demonstrated throughout.”
We revealed last month that McDonald’s oldest brother is wife killer Niall McDonald.
The Aberdeen oil worker claimed mum-of-two Mandy, 32, was a victim of a sex game gone wrong but was found guilty of culpable homicide in 2001. He served about threeand-a-half years in jail.