Victim's father slams rapist's nine-year term

Published on Sunday 5 October 2008 22:44

THE father of a teenager raped by a violent criminal on the run from an open jail yesterday hit out at the sentence imposed on his daughter's attacker.

Robert Foye, 29, attacked the 16-year-old schoolgirl in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, last summer.

Last week judge Lady Smith ordered him to spend a minimum of nine years in prison.

She also imposed a life-long restriction order on Foye, so that if he is released from jail, he will be strictly supervised.

The father of Foye's teenage victim said: "We are not pleased about the sentence.

"I don't even think even 20 years would have been enough for what he has done to my daughter. He is bad through and through."

He added: "Foye is the scum of the earth. He was born scum and he is still scum.

"I don't believe in turning the other cheek. I hope he gets everything he deserves."

Foye admitted the attack at an earlier appearance at the High Court in Glasgow.

He carried out the assault after being allowed out of Castle Huntly open prison near Dundee to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. The serial offender was half-way through a sentence imposed for attempting to murder a policeman when he fled.

He had been on the run for almost a week when he attacked the teenage girl as she went to pick up contact lenses ahead of the new school term.

He asked his victim for the time before dragging her into a wooded area, punching her on the head, pulling her to the ground and raping her.

The victim's father described his daughter as "an amazing girl" and added: "We are a strong family and although we don't know what the future holds, we are going to try to stay as positive as possible."

When details of the rape first emerged earlier this year, concerned MSPs raised the case with Alex Salmond, the First Minister, at Holyrood.

And in March, justice secretary Kenny MacAskill offered a public apology to the schoolgirl for the "shortcomings within our prison system that have allowed this individual to put her through such pain".

Mr MacAskill has also said that the recommendations contained in the Scottish Prison Service's review of the case were "being taken forward as a matter of urgency".