Rapist jailed for seven years under new ‘distress evidence’ rules

A rapist who was convicted using his victims’ distress evidence as corroboration has been jailed for seven and a half years.
Donald Meechan was told he will also be subject to strict social work supervision for five years after his release under the extended sentence.
His name will remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely and he has been banned from ever contacting either of the two women he abused.
The former soldier was convicted of rape and physical assault under rules approved by senior Scots judges last October, where the immediate distress shown by both women served as corroboration.
Previously mutual corroboration, where the evidence of one complainer about an alleged rape is supported by the evidence of another complainer about a similar sexual charge, was needed to convict a suspect of the most serious sexual offences.
The revised guidance was applied in practice for the first time in Meechan’s landmark case at the High Court in Livingston.
Jonathan Crow KC, for Meechan, said in mitigation on Monday that, despite compelling his victims to go through the ordeal of giving evidence against him, Meechan had finally admitted he was guilty of committing the offences when he was interviewed in prison by social workers.
Crow said the father-of-three had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder arising from his Army service and was keen to co-operate with any educational or behavioural programmes while in custody.
He said: “He’s willing to acknowledge the fact that he’s been convicted of serious matters. He respects the decision of the jury and knows that he will be punished. He wishes to demonstrate that he no longer presents any risk.”
Passing sentence, Sheriff Jane Farquharson told Meechan, 63, that, at his age, the impact of serving his first prison sentence was likely to have a significant effect on him.
However, she said: “I can’t ignore the impact your actions have had on both complainers. One has been left an emotional wreck and the second says she has been physically and emotionally overwhelmed by what’s happened to her.”
She said the fact that Meechan had spoken so disparagingly and in a repeatedly derogatory way about the complainers was a matter of real concern to her.
Farquharson told him that his “abusive and violent behaviours” had been laid bare in the evidence, which included testimony that he called out the name of the first woman prior to raping his second victim.
She concluded that Meechan posed a serious risk of both physical and sexual harm to others, most likely intimate partners.
He had threatened to kill his first victim, a 49-year-old woman, before grabbing her by the neck with both hands leaving bruises and abrasions — only stopping when she kicked out at him, the court was told. He then resumed the attack, punching her on the face, leaving a 5.5cm bruise on her lower jaw.
Farquharson described the second victim, a 44-year-old woman, as a highly vulnerable and much younger individual of whom Meechan had clearly taken advantage. He had punched her about the head after drinking before physically restraining her in bed and raping her twice.
Farquharson said: “She was so scared that she had to whisper to her mother in distress, in fear that you might hear her downstairs.”
Meechan was handed prison sentences totalling seven years and six months, backdated to August 9 when he was remanded in custody. He was also made subject to offender supervision for a further five years following his release and had his name added to the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.
Similarly, he was made subject to non-harassment orders banning him from approaching or contacting either victim.