Teen who raped two girls gets three years

A TEENAGER who raped two schoolgirls and sexually assaulted a 13-year- old was locked up for only three years yesterday.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, ignored two victims when they told him to stop, and raped them within a two-month period.

He had earlier carried out a sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl who he repeatedly asked for intercourse.

A judge told the teenager at the High Court in Edinburgh: ‘It seems to me plain you have shown yourself to be a risk to underage girls.’

Lady Stacey said: ‘Therefore a sentence of detention is the only suitable disposal. It is also plain to me you need guidance in your life.’

The judge sentenced him to three years in prison and ordered a further year under supervision. Lady Stacey told the teenager she took his age i nto account and reduced the s entence s he had to impose accordingly.

The j udge said he had been convicted of three serious offences, but according to a background report prepared on him did not accept his guilt.

One clearly upset girl sitting in the public benches at the court left saying: ‘ How did he only get three years?’

The teenager, from Midlothian, was convicted after a trial last year of seizing and touching a 13-year- old girl and making sexual remarks at a house in January 2013.

He was also found guilty of raping a 14- year- old girl i n March the following year after ignoring her when she told him ‘No’.

He was further found guilty of raping another 14-year-old in May 2014 after ordering her not to speak during the assault. All the offences occurred at towns in Midlothian.

The court was told the rapist was raised in a household marked by parental drug abuse and violence.

Defence counsel Wendy Hay told the court the teenager was 14 when the first of the sex crimes occurred and 15 when the rapes took place.

She said: ‘There are multiple complainers who were young themselves, but at the time of these offences he also was still a child.’

Miss Hay said there had been a lack of family support and added: ‘It is not terribly surprising he had no boundaries.’

The defence counsel said the youth’s partner is now pregnant and that while he regretted appearing before the court for sentencing, he understood and accepted that the judge had no alternative but to sentence him to detention. The teenager had been previously placed on the sex offenders’ register.

Last night politicians and campaigners criticised the three-year sentence, saying it sends the wrong message to offenders and victims.

Alex Johnstone, Tory Holyrood candidate for Angus North and Mearns, said: ‘This was a despicable crime and the victims and their families must be truly devastated by the sentence.

‘Crimes of this depravity must be treated with severe penalties to protect the public and stop future incidents from taking place.

‘Yet again, this is just another example of the SNP’s soft-touch approach to justice.’

Jan Macleod, of Women’s Support Scotland, said: ‘What message does this sentence send?

‘You have to think about what this says to young boys. People speak to young women and tell them what not to do and how to stay safe, but people are not speaking to boys about how not to offend.

‘The sentence also says something to the victims about their self-worth, although it shouldn’t.’

‘What message does it send?’