Family in agony over dad’s rape
A DEVASTATED mum has said her ex-husband should have been charged with murder after raping their daughter.
Liz Craig’s teenage daughter Jamieleigh took her own life after the attack by her dad James Elder at his flat in Parkhead.
The 19-year-old mum-of-one killed herself just 12 weeks after the brutal assault, leaving her mum and sister Chloe heartbroken.
A HEARTBROKEN mother has spoken out about her daughter’s suicide after being raped by her father.
Liz Craig said sex attacker James Elder should have been charged with murder after Jamieleigh killed herself just before Christmas.
Elder, 43, was convicted on April 6 of raping his 19-yearold daughter at a flat in Parkhead in September 2016.
Jamieleigh then killed herself in December that year at the family home i n Crookston.
In court, her mother Liz told of the moment her girl told her what had happened. She said: “She kneeled beside me and started crying.
“She put her head onto my lap. I just grabbed her. I put my arms around her and gave her a cuddle. “I wish I could do that now.” The 43-year-old told the Scottish Sun she stood by daughter Jamieleigh’s coffin and vowed to bring the teenager’s rapist to justice.
She said she was determined to see monster Elder jailed.
Liz said: “The last thing I said to Jamieleigh as I was standing by her coffin was, ‘I’ll get justice for you.’
“I’ve been waiting over a year for that and I’ve finally got it. But no matter what sentence he gets it’ll never bring my daughter back.
“Jamieleigh was in and out of hospital and had to get injections because he’s got hepatitis.
“She had emergency contraception so she wouldn’t end up pregnant.
“Elder showed no remorse. We had to sit and look at pictures of the bruises all over my daughter’s body from where she was held down.
“He had a bite mark on his leg and was covered i n scratches as she was trying anything to get away.
“He had the audacity to take me and my other daughter through court and he kept looking round at us, trying to intimidate us.”
She added: “He is responsible for my daughter’s death.
“I knew the night she told me what happened she was telling the truth.
“She suffered post-traumatic stress and went downhill from there. If we could have got him done for murder, we would.
“He doesn’t give a damn about anyone but himself.”
Elder raped mum-of-one Jamieleigh during a drinking session with friends at his flat in the city’s Parkhead.
Police were called to a disturbance there and Jamieleigh was given a lift to Liz’s house where she broke down and sobbed to her mum and sister Chloe, 18: “My dad raped me.”
Chloe said: “There is no way to describe what it’s like to go to court to give evidence for your sister as she’s not here to do it for herself.
“That’s down to him. He’s the reason I don’t have my sister any more. I feel like I’ve lost my mum as well because she is like an empty shell — her body’s here but her mind is somewhere else.
“To wreck mum’s trust like that is vile — she was once married to him. His record is full of domestics as he used to batter her.”
Jamieleigh went looking for Elder after losing contact with him after her parents split when she was a child.
The High Court in Glasgow heard distressing details of the statement Jamieleigh gave to detectives on the case.
On Friday a jury took just over an hour to find Elder guilty of raping his daughter in September 2016.
She killed herself on December 22. Liz and sister Carolanne Dickson, 40, sobbed with relief at the verdict.
But Elder, who has spent years addicted to booze and drugs, cruelly taunted them as he was led to the cells, mumbling: “It was the other way around.”