Man raped woman with learning difficulties

Rapist told he is facing a lengthy jail sentence for catalogue of abuse

A rapist who repeatedly preyed on a woman with learning difficulties during a catalogue of abuse was warned yesterday he is facing a lengthy jail sentence.

Steven Thomson indecently assaulted the victim from when she was a teenager and later raped her at addresses in Dundee.

The 56-year-old had earlier raped another woman at a house in the city after following her into a bathroom.

Thomson, of Buttars Road, Dundee, had denied a string of offences during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh

But he was found guilty of sexually assaulting, attempting to rape and raping the woman with learning difficulties, who was incapable of consenting to sexual activity because of mental disorder, and raping the other victim.

Following the jury returning its verdicts, defence solicitor advocate Chris Fyffe asked that Thomson’s bail be continued ahead of sentencing next month.

But a judge remanded him in custody while a background report is prepared. Lady Carmichael told the rapist: “A significant custodial sentence is at the forefront of my mind.”

During the trial jurors were shown footage of recorded interviews with the 34-year-old woman.

At one stage she was questioned by a woman detective with an appropriate adult present and confirmed Thomson had raped her. She said: “He did things he should not have done.”

She said Thomson began abusing her when she was aged 17 or 18 and on occasions he would shove her on a bed

“I would just tell him ‘no’ and try to force myself away but he was too powerful. He would just shove us back down,” she said.

“He used to say I can’t tell anybody. ‘It’s our little secret’. He threatened he would kill us if I ever told anybody. He threatened us on more than one occasion,” she said.

“I just wanted it to be over, just wanted my life to be over. I thought he is not going to stop. The only way it is going to stop is if I commit suicide,” she said.

Thomson was found guilty of indecently assaulting the woman between 1999 and 2010 at flats in Dundee during which he exposed himself to the victim and molested her. He was also convicted of raping her on various occasions between December 2010 and 2012.

He was also found guilty of assaulting the woman and attempting to rape her on a single occasion in 2006.

Thomson was also found guilty of raping the second woman before the attacks on the woman suffering mental disorder began.

Thomson was placed on the sex offenders register.

Steven Thomson outside the High Court in Edinburgh where he was found guilty of raping two women.