Former soldier with Huntington's disease raped girl, 13, on family holiday

A former soldier who was a charity champion raising money for veterans has been exposed as a serial sex attacker.

Shaun McKenna first struck when he was a teenager before joining the armed forces.

The now 36-year-old later went on to rape a 13-year-old girl at a campsite in the Highlands in 2020.

McKenna – who was diagnosed with life-limiting Huntington’s disease in early 2022 – appeared in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow, where he pleaded guilty to sex crimes against three females.

In 2023, McKenna – then a lance corporal with 3 Scots – told how he was battling his condition to fundraise for fellow squaddies, veterans and their families in the gruelling 54-mile Soldier’s Charity Cateran Yomp across rugged Perthshire countryside.

He had also completed the Washington Marine Corps Marathon in America a year earlier. As part of his ‘bucket list’, McKenna further spoke of wanting to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro.

He now faces a likely jail term when he returns to court in April.

McKenna – currently in a nursing home in Kinross due to Huntington’s – had bail continued.

The court heard how the young rape victim had been on holiday with her family. She was in a tent alone when McKenna came in and stood close to the girl.

The child asked what he was doing before the soldier pinned her down and lay on top of her.

Prosecutor Gordon Lindhorst says she tried to fight him off but was stopped from kicking out or moving.

After her ordeal, the young victim initially did not tell her mother, who noticed her daughter was “exhausted and drained”.

It was only in January 2022 that she bravely revealed what had happened.

McKenna was arrested in August of that year – by this time, he was in a personnel recovery unit in Edinburgh.

The court heard he was “not deemed suitable for interview” as a result of his condition.

He was released without charge due to what was considered to be “lack of available corroboration”.

But, in April 2023, McKenna then targeted a woman he had latterly been “friends” with on Facebook.

Mr Lindhorst said she got a message “out of the blue”.

She was sickened to then watch a video of McKenna carrying out a sex act on himself.

He went on to ask if she “liked it” – but she told him the clip was “unacceptable”.

Police were alerted, and this same victim then disclosed that McKenna had sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers living in the same town.

He had also tried to get her to watch porn.

Another victim then came forward to reveal how McKenna had also preyed on her.

McKenna pled guilty to four charges, including rape as well as lewd and libidinous behaviour.

He was discharged from the army in 2023, having served for ten years.

Gerry Sweeney, defending, persuaded Judge Douglas Brown to continue bail due to McKenna’s medical circumstances and the awaiting of an updated psychological report.