‘Major kick in the teeth’: Victim speaks out a er rapist is jailed

Woman slams prison sentence

A RAPE victim who atempted to take her own life after being attacked by a man at his Greenock home has blasted a sixyear prison term as ‘not enough’ and a ‘major kick in the teeth’.

Predator Stuart McIntyre pounced on the vulnerable young woman — who was around half his age — five years ago and was jailed earlier this month.

McIntyre, 56, received an extended sentence, including a six-year term behind bars and a further two years on licence in the community, backdated to December 2022.

However, his victim, who spoke to the Telegraph with her mother on condition of anonymity, said the outcome was insufficient as he may end up serving less time than it took for court proceedings to conclude.

The woman said: “When I heard the sentence I cried because that is all he got for the trauma I went through.

“That was not a fair amount. I understand I may never think anything was fair but less time than I waited to get the verdict? I just can’t get over that.

“In my eyes, for everything I went through after it, that was a major kick in the teeth.”

McIntyre, who was jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh, targeted the victim at his own address in May 2019 after she and some friends had gone back to the property following a night out.

The woman, who had never encountered the rapist before and believes he was ‘manipulative’ and ‘very deceptive’, said she felt ‘uncomfortable’ after conversations with him and had messaged her father asking for a lift home.

She said: “There were five other people in the house and he had the audacity to do that.

“It was his house.

“We were just sitting and my pals went to go and make pizza and that’s when it happened.

“It was minutes but obviously to me it felt like ages.

“My pal asked ‘Why didn’t you scream?’ but you don’t know what to do until you’re in that position.

“I could tell you how many wee dead flies he had on his light because I’d been sitting staring at it.

“I couldn’t speak.”

The woman said she was in ‘an absolute state’ after the serious sexual assault and reported the incident when bruises appeared on her legs.

She described the ‘degrading’ process of having to preserve evidence for police, going for medical check-ups and providing statements - and said she became ‘so mentally unwell’ from the horrifying experience that she tried to take her own life in the months afterwards.

nd Despite the woman’s prerecorded evidence and the verdict of the jury, McIntyre, who has also been added to the sex offenders register indefinitely, has never accepted any guilt.

Highlighting the longterm impact on her and her family, the woman said: “We don’t feel like the wait has been worth it.

“Yes, it’s different for murder as you’re taking somebody’s life, but whenever you rape somebody you are destroying them for life. They’ve got to live with that.

“When I go into relationships sometimes they’ll morph into him, it’s just how my PTSD reacts and they look like him. That makes every relationship I have really difficult.

“It’s all that impact and he gets a nice wee cushty cell.”

She said she never had any doubts or hesitance over reporting the matter and encouraged others who may find themselves in similar situations to do likewise.

The victim’s mum told the Tele: “It’s not just over when the trial is done.

“People think it’s closure and you can move on and don’t get me wrong, I was one of the ones who turned round and said to her, ‘Right, that’s it, we can move on now’.

“But you can’t. You still deal with it to this day. You can’t switch it off.”

The mother added: “I’m glad he’s not getting away with it.”