Aberdeen man convicted of city centre rape

A 49-year-old man’s been convicted of the brutal rape of a young woman in Aberdeen city centre.

Alasdair McDonald who pounced on his 21-year-old victim in Union Terrace Gardens, around 3am on January 28, 2016 is facing a lengthy jail sentence.

McDonald overpowered the woman, forced her to the ground, repeatedly struck her on the head, restricted her breathing by seizing her nose and then dragged her into bushes and raping her.

At the High Court in Glasgow McDonald admitted sexually assaulting the woman, but denied that he had raping her.

The jury, however, did not believe him and convicted him of rape.

Judge Lord Arthurson told McDonald: “You have been convicted of an abhorrent sexual offence against a young woman who was a complete stranger to you.”

The court heard that during the violent rape McDonald ripped off the crotch area of his victim's pants.

This was found some yards away and contained McDonald's DNA.

A forensic expert told the jury that it would have needed excessive force to rip the knickers.

The court heard that after the rape McDonald was initially spoken to as a potential witness and told officers: “I saw a black man walking away.” He denied that he was anywhere near Union Terrace Gardens.

An extensive trawl of CCTV in the city centre revealed that McDonald was in the area at the time the rape was committed.

DNA analysis conformed that McDonald was the rapist.

A police surgeon who examined the victim said that she had suffered “the worst internal injures' he had ever seen.

Lord Arthurson ordered McDonald, who is a prisoner in Barlinnie, Glasgow to be placed on the sex offenders' register. He deferred sentence on him until next month at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Prosecutor Sheena Fraser said: “The accused has previous convictions, but they are not analogous.

“At the time of the offence he was unemployed and on benefits and living in Aberdeen with his identical twin brother.”

During the search for the Union Terrace Gardens rapist a £5,000 reward for information was offered by Crimestoppers.

McDonald showed no emotion as he was led away to the cells after the guilty verdict.

Inspector Sheila McDerment, who led the inquiry, said: "Stranger attacks are extremely rare in Scotland, let alone the North East, which made this a challenging and lengthy investigation involving significant resources from Police Scotland's Specialist Crime Division along with support from local officers within North East Division.

"Thanks to the painstaking efforts of all those involved - from how we worked with the victim to gather as much information as we could, to how we preserved and managed the locus; from how we worked with the local community and our partners, to how we effectively gathered CCTV evidence to help us identify our suspect - we were able to bring this case to court and McDonald will now have to face the consequences of his brutal and terrible actions that night. I would like to take this opportunity to mention the work carried out by our partners within the Scottish Police Authority Laboratory using the latest DNA technology which ultimately identified him as our accused.

"Above all I want to thank the victim involved for the courage she has demonstrated throughout, firstly by coming forward to tell Police what had happened and then by co-operating with us to reach this conclusion. I know that the verdict reached today will never change what happened to her, however I hope it can help her move forward with her life.

"Policing sexual crimes remains a key priority for Police Scotland and we are committed to continually improving the service we provide to victims, supporting and helping them to come forward to report what happened. Every report is investigated with the same level of thoroughness regardless of when it happened, and we work closely with our partners to ensure victims receive the necessary support.

"We know how difficult it can be to report sexual crimes which is why we have specially trained officers in each of the 13 local divisions of Police Scotland to help and support those who have been victims. Sexual crimes of any type will never be tolerated."