Hotel boss sent to prison for attempted abduction

Sheriff says man took advantage and put women in ‘distressing position’

A hotel boss wept as he was sent to prison for subjecting two women to a terrifying ordeal outside a city nightclub.

Vygantas Gadeikis tried to bundle his victims into his wife’s people carrier outside Dundee University’s Students’ Union in October 2015.

The 28-year-old, who runs the Victoria Hotel in Blairgowrie, claimed he had been offering the girls a lift home after it appeared one of them was upset.

A jury at Dundee Sheriff Court took only one hour to find Gadeikis guilty of assaulting Mhairi Cormack and Cherilyn Lawrie by grabbing hold of them, dragging them up a set of stairs and trying to get them inside a car.

Gadeikis was sentenced to two years in prison, plus a further one year of supervision on release.

Sentencing him, Sheriff Thomas Hughes said the court was sending out a clear message that women who are out enjoying themselves have the right to do so without risk of attack.

He added it was lucky the incident had been halted by passersby when it was, before something “worse” happened.

His wife was out of the country on holiday at the time, leaving Gadeikis alone for two weeks.

He and three other friends drove round Dundee in her Volkswagen Touran on October 3, following a night out in Fat Sam’s nightclub, before stopping close to the Students’ Union in Park Wynd.

Gadeikis then engaged Ms Cormack and Ms Lawrie in conversation, claiming he wanted directions.

After the victims walked away and down a flight of stairs, Gadeikis followed them before grabbing them and hauling them back towards his car.

He then tried to shove Ms Cormack into his vehicle as she held on to the door frame to keep herself out.

Another male held Ms Lawrie against a set of railings, preventing her escape.

Ms Cormack shouted to two passing males and told Gadeikis one of them was her boyfriend and he let her go.

Sheriff Hughes said: “This is a very serious matter.

“The young women were in a vulnerable position. They were drunk and had been out enjoying themselves, which is their right. They should be able to do so without fear of harm.

“You took advantage of their vulnerable position, made worse by the fact that you were sober.

“You put them in a distressing position. It is lucky that nothing worse happened. Your actions were totally and utterly unacceptable.”

Vygantas Gadeikis, being escorted at Dundee Sheriff Court, was found guilty of attempting to abduct two women on a Dundee street.