Man found guilty of repeatedly raping child and mother over four years

Court: Mark Dunbar was convicted of rape.© Deadline

A man has been convicted of raping a young girl and her mother.

Mark Dunbar was found guilty of repeatedly raping his young victim over a four-year period. As a result, she contracted a sexually transmitted disease.

Dunbar, 29, from East Kilbride, was also convicted at the High Court in Glasgow of raping the girl's 32-year-old mother.

As he was led away to the cells the mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, shouted at him: "I hope you rot in hell."

The court heard that for years the girl was too frightened of Dunbar to tell anyone what was happening. But after watching an episode of EastEnders, which tackled child sex abuse, she finally told her mother that Dunbar had been raping her when she was aged between seven and 11.

The offence was committed at various addresses in Lanarkshire between 2005 and 2009. Dunbar also raped her 32-year-old mother on various occasions between September 2009 and January 2010.

A jury took just 90 minutes to find Dunbar guilty of raping both victims. Temporary judge John Morris QC described the case as " very distressing" and deferred sentence on Dunbar until next month for background reports.

He also placed Dunbar on the sex offenders register. Advocate depute Jane Farquharson, prosecuting, told the court that Dunbar had previous convictions but not for sexual offences.

Dunbar, who claimed his victims had made up a pack of lies against him, forced them to give evidence in court and re-live their ordeals. The girl, who is now 14, told the jury that Dunbar began touching her private parts when she was six and then alleged that he began to rape her when she was around seven or eight years old.

She said: "He started touching me and on my private parts after wrestling with me. And then it got worse. He ended up sleeping with me. He had sex with me."

She was asked by Ms Farquharson: "Did you want him to do this to you?" and replied: "No, but I was scared of him." The girl said that Dunbar would undress her and then take his trousers off before having sex with her.

The teenager told the court that he never said a word as he sexually assaulted her. The girl was asked how often he had sex with her and replied: "A few times a week." She also claimed that on one occasion he showed her a video of a man and woman having sex.

Ms Farquharson said: "You have told us that as you got older you realised this shouldn't be happening, how did you feel?" and she replied: "Upset." The jury was read out a joint minute of agreement which revealed that a doctor had examined the girl after the allegations were made in 2010 and found that she had a sexually transmitted disease.

Ms Farquharson asked the girl: "Have you had any sexual experience with anyone other than Mr Dunbar?" and she replied: "No." The 14-year-old was then asked if she had made it all up because she didn't like Dunbar and said: "No."

In court her 32-year-old mother broke down as she re-lived the moment her daughter told her she was being raped by Dunbar. The 32-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: "She says the same thing is happening to me as what's happening to the girl in EastEnders."

The court was told her daughter said "Mark Dunbar is making me have sex with him". She told the jury: "I couldn't take it in, it was such a shock." Ms Farquarson asked: "How did you react to the information?" and she replied: "I felt sick."

The woman also told the jury that Dunbar raped her even after she begged him to stop. In evidence, Dunbar claimed that sex with the mother was consensual and said the girl was lying and he had never touched her.

Related articles

People who read this story also read