A TAXI driver who raped a sleeping woman after a night out has been jailed for seven years for the “cowardly” attack.
Rory Crawford had met the 21-year-old woman and her friend, whose flat she was staying in, at a club before he had returned home with them.
He went into a bedroom where the woman was sleeping and raped her in December 2014.
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Crawford, 34, of Swanston Drive, Edinburgh, was convicted by a majority verdict at the city’s high court after a trial.
Sentencing, Judge Michael O’Grady said: “I regard this crime as very grave and cowardly. Rape is always a hideous and cowardly crime.”
Mr O’Grady said the offence brought “pain, distress and humiliation” for the victim.
The judge said the toll that Crawford’s actions had taken on the woman was “all too clear to see”.
Mr O’Grady said the crime he committed had “a sinister and rather predatory overtone which is disturbing”.
The judge previously rejected a defence move to have Crawford remain on bail following the conviction while a background report was prepared on him ahead of sentencing and remanded him in custody.
Crawford attacked the woman while she was asleep and incapable of giving or withholding consent and continued to have sex with her after she awoke.
Defence solicitor advocate John Keenan said Crawford had been assessed as a high risk but said that appeared to relate mainly to him continuing to maintain his innocence.
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He said Crawford had not been sentenced to a prison term before and since being in prison for the current offence had been prescribed medication. Crawford was placed on the sex offenders’ register.
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