The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
OAP jailed for nine years over series of historical assaults
Apensioner has been jailed for nine years for a catalogue of historical sex abuse committed more than three decades ago in Fife.
Convicted sex offender Charles Donnelly repeatedly raped a young woman and subjected a boy and girl to appalling sex crimes.
Judge Lady Carmichael ordered the 70-year-old to be monitored in the community for a further five-year period following his jail term.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, she told Donnelly, watching on videolink from prison: “Your offending has caused lasting harm to your victims.”
He was also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
Donnelly was previously jailed for seven years in 2015 for sex offences and, after his release from that jail term, was recalled to prison for breaching his licence by being in the company of a child.
Donnelly was due to stand trial at the High Court earlier this year to face a series of further charges but he pled guilty to four offences.
The first involved the repeated rape of a young woman between January 1977 and September 1981 at addresses in a Fife village.
The victim said Donnelly was “helping himself to sex” despite her making it clear she did not want it.
Donnelly ignored her and repeatedly assaulted and raped her, the court heard.
His second victim was a young boy who Donnelly spanked before committing a serious indecent assault in Dunfermline on an occasion between September 1976 and September 1979.
Donnelly told the boy, then aged six, he was bad and pulled down his lower clothing before hitting him on the buttocks and carrying out a sex attack on him.
His third victim was a girl subjected to prolonged abuse from the age of five for nearly a decade at addresses in a Fife village, beginning in 1983.
The sex offender told his young victim not to tell anyone as she would get into trouble if she did.
Donnelly molested the child and carried out sex acts in her presence.
Defence counsel Michael Anderson KC said Donnelly, who is in prison awaiting trial, has had “significant difficulties of his own throughout his life”.
He said that his client has not offended since 1994.
During Donnelly’s postprison monitoring period, he will be under licence and can be returned to prison if he breaches its conditions.
Detective Constable Karen Nairn, of the Non Recent Child Abuse Investigations Team, said: “This was a complex and disturbing case and it is right that Donnelly now has to face the consequences of his disgraceful actions.
“My thoughts remain with the victims and their families. This conviction is a direct result of them coming forward.
“They have shown immense courage in reporting these crimes so that Donnelly has now been held accountable for his actions.
“I hope that his conviction gives them some comfort and they can try and move forward with their lives.
“Police Scotland is wholly committed to tackling all cases of child abuse, regardless of when the crimes occurred, and we will continue to work alongside our partners to support any victims and ensure offenders are brought to justice.”
“This was a disturbing case and it is right that Donnelly must now face the consequences of his actions