Traumatised rape victim won't go anywhere alone

A TEENAGE rape victim has been left so traumatised by the attack that she will not go anywhere on her own, a court has heard.

• The attack occurred near St John's Hospital

The girl was attacked in broad daylight by Andrew Hamilton as she walked home from work on a footpath close to St John's Hospital in Livingston, listening to music on her mobile phone and texting her sister. The teenager was left so hysterical that she was unable to speak when a former school friend tried to help her.

Advocate depute Paul Kearney, prosecuting, told the High Court in Edinburgh that when Hamilton, 23, grabbed her she thought it must be one of her friends "larking about".

The court heard that an old school friend noticed the 18-year-old looking scared and distressed and trying to cover her face with a scarf. Mr Kearney said: "The girl went up to her friend and hugged her.

"The girl started crying. It took the friend five or six minutes to calm her down enough for her to be able to say anything to her. She was hysterical."

When the girl tried to use her friend's phone to call her dad she was crying so much that she was unable to do so.

"Her state of distress was such that, for a time, she could not remember her home telephone number," said Mr Kearney.

A careful search of the path beside a busy dual carriageway later revealed evidence which matched Hamilton's DNA.

Hamilton had also tried to sell the shop assistant's iPhone to friends, the court heard.

When police searched his home in the town's Linnet Brae, they found white shoes and a black jacket which matched the victim's description of her attacker.

When questioned, Hamilton denied having anything to do with the attack, but in court yesterday he pleaded guilty to robbing and raping the girl on May 12 this year.

Judge Lord Tyre was told that before the rape the shop assistant was "a confident young woman". Now she never goes anywhere alone and feels unsafe, except when she is at home with her family.

She thinks constantly about the attack and feels she will always have to live with its effects.

Mr Kearney asked the judge to order a risk assessment which could lead to an order for lifelong restriction - a kind of life sentence which will keep Hamilton locked up until the parole board feel it is safe to release him.

Lord Tyre will decide the next move when Hamilton - who has a previous conviction for carrying a sharp weapon - returns to court next month. He was remanded in custody.