Town centre sex attack on student
Devastated victim gave up college
A stranger subjected a young student to a brutal sex attack in a car park.
Mark McClue, 47, grabbed his 20- yearold victim by both arms and shoved his hand down her trousers in Cumnock town centre.
As she tried to desperately push him away, he said “come on darling”, Ayr Sheriff Court heard this week.
This week McClue, of Cameron Drive, Auchinleck, who denied the assault, was found guilty by a jury after a lengthy trial.
After boozing in the Sun Inn he crept up on the aspiring teacher in the darkness behind the Royal Hotel in Glaisnock Street, the court heard.
Depute fiscal Iain Gray told how he called her darling, pulled her zip and shoved both hands down her front.
Mr Gray said: “That is what happened to her. That is what changed her life. That is the man who did it: Mark McClue.”
Unemployed McClue struck on March 9, 2014, after 1am when the girl nipped into a car park to relieve herself after a night out. She momentarily lost sight of a friend who was waiting for her.
When she appeared minutes later she was crying and told pals she had been touched up.
She described the culprit as an older man with a blue jacket, with his lip up.
One of them then confronted the pervert, who was still in the area and was identified as having a cleft lip.
CCTV revealed McClue had been hanging around the area, waiting for a taxi at the Square.
He insisted he had been taking care of his sister but that was not reflected in footage shown in the courtroom.
Mr Gray said: “The complainer was seen with friends walking in the direction of the lane and goes out of view.
“The accused is seen in the direction of the lane and then disappears out of view.”
He continued: “The only man in Cumnock that night wearing a blue jacket with a cleft lip is that man there.”
Earlier in the trial the victim was described as being in a state of panic after the incident. The court heard that the nightmare had rocked her confidence and she dropped out of college.
Fitness student Kimberley Rafferty, 30, was one of a number of witnesses who had been waiting for a taxi at the time and spotted McClue. She said: “There was a man hanging about outside with his lip up.”
Defence lawyer Robert Logan said the accusation was a result of misidentification.
He said: “Because of alcohol, stress and shock one set of events was transformed into another.
“It is sometimes said in Scotland don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story but the facts are what count in this case.”
A jury found McClue guilty by majority
That is what changed her life. That is the man who did it: Mark McClue.