Girl won't sleep with light off after horrific sex attack

Published on Wednesday 9 December 2009 09:24

A TEENAGE girl has been left terrified to be alone or sleep with the lights off after being snatched off the street in a Lothian town and raped by a schoolboy.

Iain McCarron, 16, is set to become one of the youngest criminals in Scotland to face a life sentence under an Order for Lifelong Restriction after pleading guilty to the horrific sex attack.

McCarron was aged 15 and on holiday with his family when he pounced on the 18-year-old victim in North Berwick, East Lothian, in July this year.

The screaming girl was told to "shut up or I will stab you" before McCarron forced her into the grounds of a hotel and attacked her. The High Court in Edinburgh heard the victim was so scared that she obeyed McCarron's order to lie down and take off her clothes.

Advocate depute Andrew Stewart QC told the court: "This incident has had a huge impact not only on the victim, but on the lives of her whole family. She has lost her independence.

"Her nature has changed to a significant degree. She now has difficulty sleeping and will not sleep without the light on."

The victim's parents spoke previously of how their daughter's ordeal left their family "totally devastated", adding that "why anyone should want to inflict such pain upon a fellow human is hard for us all to comprehend".

McCarron, of Drumchapel in Glasgow, admitted attacking and raping the victim on 21 July this year at Westgate, in North Berwick, and in the grounds of the Blenheim House Hotel. He also admitted a further charge of assaulting a 15-year-old girl at the High Street, in North Berwick, between 18 and 25 July, by seizing her by the arm and pulling her into an alley.

The Crown accepted McCarron's not guilty plea to a third charge alleging that he raped another female at a house in North Berwick on 19 July while she was asleep and under the influence of alcohol.

Mr Stewart said that first offender McCarron had been on holiday with his parents and a brother in the seaside town for a week in the summer.

The rape victim was out with friends before leaving to walk home along the town's High Street just after midnight.

McCarron, who had been at a house party, had approached her and asked her for a cigarette, before following her.

Mr Stewart said: "She turned towards the accused and he pushed her chest, causing her to fall backwards against a wall. She started to scream."

McCarron told her she would be stabbed if she did not stop screaming, telling her "if you tell anyone about this I will kill you" as he raped her.

Lord Malcolm deferred sentence on the youth until next month for the preparation of a background report. He placed McCarron on the sex offenders' register and ordered that he be remanded at a secure school.