iStockA rapist who attacked a sleeping woman is facing a lengthy jail-term.
Graeme Gate preyed on the victim he had just met that evening at a house in Inverness on August 23, 2025.
The woman and a friend had initially gone there before planning to go into the city centre on a night out.
Gate and another man were also at the property. The victim had never met the 34-year-old attacker before.
Gate went on to join the woman and her friend in a taxi before they visited a number of bars.
Gate and his victim later returned to the house. She was said to have been affected by alcohol she had earlier taken.
The High Court in Glasgow heard on Tuesday that the woman ended up falling asleep on the couch.
The victim was then stunned to being awoken by Gate sexually assaulting her.
She screamed at him: “What are you doing to me? What have you done to me?”
The other man – who had not gone out with them that night – also woke up on hearing the woman.
He went into the room and found Gate with a “shocked look on his face” while protesting his innocence.
The victim later messaged Gate on social media stating she was “going to the cops”. She added he had made her feel “disgusting, dirty and worthless”.
He replied to her: “On my parents lives, I did not touch you.”
Gate was eventually held by police. He denied any sexual contact, adding any suggestion he raped the woman was a “pile of s****”.
Lord Arthurson deferred sentencing until next month and put Gate on the sex offenders register.
The judge told him: “You have pled guilty to what I can describe as a predatory rape of a vulnerable young woman, who was, in effect, a stranger to you.
“You will remain in custody meantime.”
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