Locations
Newtoft Street, Edinburgh, EH17
Description
A sex predator who molested and raped an underage teenage girl after her school friend had been in contact with him through a website was jailed on Thursday, September 1.
James McAllister left his victim in pain after an initial encounter when she said he knew she was 13 years old but then later subjected her to a rape at a flat in Edinburgh.
One attack happened at a flat in Gilmerton.
A sex predator who molested and raped an underage teenage girl after her school friend had been in contact with him through a website was jailed on Thursday, September 1.
James McAllister left his victim in pain after an initial encounter when she said he knew she was 13 years old but then later subjected her to a rape at a flat in Edinburgh.
The woman, now aged 33, told the High Court in Edinburgh that if someone was looking her at the time of the offences they would have seen "a child".
She said that the abuse inflicted on her by the older man had left her crying, shaking, upset and feeling dirty.
McAllister, 44, of Newtoft Street, in Edinburgh had denied subjecting her to indecent conduct at a car park in Newtongrange, in Midlothian, between August 22 in 2002 and August 21 in 2004.
He also denied assaulting and raping her at a flat in the Gilmerton area of Edinburgh between the same dates. He was found guilty of both offences.
The woman said that in early years at high school her friend had accessed a website which she described as being like the dating website Plenty of Fish. She told her she had been speaking to a man called James.
She said a meeting had been arranged for her and her friend with the man and her friend had indicated they were both 18.
"She had asked if I would go along with her to meet James in Dalkeith," she said.
She said they dressed and put make-up on to try to look older, but added the attempt failed. She said they hid in bushes at the library in the Midlothian town and waited for James to arrive in his car.
The woman said she told her friend they would need to disclose that they were not 18 because they did not look old enough to be that age.
She said her friend contacted McAllister and told him they were really 13. She said: "The reply was 'it's fine come over to the car'."
She said McAllister drove off with them in the car. She told the court: "I thought we were going in the car just to drive about."
The woman said they were driven to an area with no other cars about and her friend left the vehicle. She said: "There was a discussion about who was getting picked to stay in the car."
She said she was petrified and added: "I didn't think my friend was going to be leaving me in the car with someone I didn't know."
She said McAllister started kissing and put his tongue in her mouth. She said it was "disgusting" and "tasted like cigarettes".
McAllister began touching her and got her to touch him and carried out a sex act, leaving her feeling sore. She said he asked her to carry out a sex act on him but she did not known what she was doing.
Advocate depute Stewart Ronnie asked the woman: "As far as you were concerned he knew you were 13?". She replied: "Yes."
Her friend returned and they were driven back to the library and left there while McAllister drove off.
She said that after McAllister had contacted her again and told her he liked her and that she was pretty. He said he would buy her drink and let her watch TV music channels. He also bought her top ups for her phone.
"I was young.. I was offered alcohol. I didn't have stuff like music videos at home, " she said. She and her friend met him again by the library and were driven to an address in the Gilmerton area.
She said McAllister gave her Bacardi breezers before he asked her to follow him to a bedroom and told her to take her clothes off.
She said he stripped off and performed a sex act on her but his beard left her with "a burning sensation". She said he began raping her but she said it was sore and asked him to stop.
The woman said: "He said it was fine, that was what was meant to happen. It was meant to be sore. At that point he kept pushing it in."
She said she eventually managed to get up from the bed and picked up her clothes, but was in "searing pain".
Afterwards she got back in the car with her friend but when they reached the Eskbank roundabout, which was the first place she recognised, she asked him to stop. They got out of the car but she burst out crying uncontrollably.
She said she and her friend later printed off some pictures of her attacker and stuck them up in Dalkeith calling him a paedophile. She gave a statement to police in 2018.
After McAllister was found guilty of the sex offences the trial judge, Lord Weir, told him he been convicted of serious charges.
The court heard that although McAllister has previous convictions he has never served a jail sentence.
The judge adjourned the case for the preparation of a background report and McAllister, who was on bail during his trial was remanded in custody.
He was placed on the sex offender's register