Central Scotland News AgencyA taxi driver who raped his teenage passenger in a lay-by before “dumping” her in sub-zero temperatures has been jailed for six years and nine months.
David Brown, 50, picked up the 18-year-old girl who had been on a night out in Inverness.
She wanted to go back to her Highland village, but Brown drove past her destination and pulled into a lay-by near a farm, somewhere between Strathpeffer and Dingwall.
Brown’s journey was recovered from his car’s tracker system.
Judge Lord Renucci told Brown he raped a “vulnerable” person who was considerably younger than himself, and the crime involved a degree of violence.
Lord Renucci said: “When she got into your taxi that night, she was entitled to think you would perform the function you had been engaged to – that of delivering her safely to her own home, which was some distance away.
“Instead you drove on, past the area where she lived, and took her to Dingwall where, as we know from the tracker system of your car, you drove about the town and the outskirts before stopping at a secluded and remote lay-by near a farm.
“It was in that lay-by that you then raped her. She was only 18. You were significantly older, being at the time 47.
“This must have been a terrifying ordeal for your victim, who was undoubtedly in a vulnerable condition due to her inebriation, which you took advantage of for your own sexual gratification.
“After you had finished, you drove her back into Dingwall.
“There, in effect, you dumped her out of your taxi in the very early hours of the morning.”
Lord Renucci said “thankfully” a member of staff at the town’s Tesco “saw her, took pity on her, and opened up the store to let her in out of the cold”.
In addition to the jail term, Brown was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.
Brown, of Croy, Inverness-shire, appeared for sentence by prison video link at the High Court in Stirling after being found guilty by a jury after a three-day trial in Edinburgh last month.
He had denied the charge of rape, claiming he had a consensual sexual encounter, instigated by the victim.
Defence advocate Bill Adam said Brown still maintained that it was the position.
Lord Renucci said: “[This was] a version of events that was rejected by the jury.”
The incident occurred on December 3, 2023.
At the trial, in pre-recorded evidence, Brown’s victim said that Brown had agreed to run her home despite her not having enough to pay the fare.
She added: “He said that’s fine and that he would give me a lift anyway.”
But during the journey, Brown did not go the way she needed to and headed for the Ross-shire countryside.
Brown then forced her to perform the oral sex act.
Afterwards, he drove her to Dingwall and dropped her off in -4C temperatures.
The “traumatised” girl contacted the police, who managed to track Brown down, and detectives gathered enough evidence to bring him to court.
Brown showed no emotion as the sentence was announced.
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