Blind serial rapist who preyed on 8 fellow pupils is given life sentence
‘You are evil and dangerous’
A RAPIST who sexually assaulted eight of his fellow pupils at a school for the blind was yesterday handed a life sentence.
David Penman, 43, was given an order for lifelong restriction after preying on his victims at the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh during the 1980s. A court heard how Penman, who is registered blind, raped or sexually abused girls and boys during his time there.
One of his victims told jurors how Penman targeted her in December 1986. The woman, now 42, told the court he repeatedly attacked her and she heard him tell a friend that she was an ‘easy target’ for rape.
It took jurors one day of deliberations in June 2017 to return guilty verdicts on 11 charges of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault.
Following conviction, prosecution lawyer Ian Wallace then revealed that Penman, of Inverness, had been jailed in February 2000 for ten years on charges of rape and attempted rape.
On that occasion, judge Lord Kingarth also ordered him to be supervised by the authorities for eight years following his release.
In 2009, Penman was convicted of breaching a sexual offences prevention order.
He also received two years’ probation in 1993 after being convicted of indecent assault.
Days before his 2017 convictions Penman, a prisoner at HMP Edinburgh, told jurors that this was the first time he had appeared in court. That prompted judge Lord Uist to call for a report into whether the repeat sex offender met the criteria for the imposition of an order for lifelong restriction.
Such an order would mean Penman would only be released back into the community once the parole board was satisfied he no longer posed a threat to the public.
Yesterday, judge Lord Uist ruled that Penman did meet the criteria to be subject to an order for lifelong restriction.
Ordering that Penman serve at least four years in custody before becoming eligible for release, Lord Uist said: ‘You are cunning, deceitful and manipulative. You engage in fantasies involving deviant sexual violence.
‘I’m in no doubt that you are an evil and dangerous man.’