Man who raped teenager at Glenrothes Travelodge jailed for nine years

A man has been jailed for nine years for raping a teenager at a Travelodge, who was later hounded online following the attack.

Maneeb Javaid forced himself on the then 18-year-old at the hotel in Glenrothes, Fife in July 2019.

Javaid – now aged 27 – was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday.

He had earlier been found guilty of the rape following a trial in Edinburgh.

The victim had passed away before the case, but the authorities were able to gather enough evidence to bring the attacker to justice.

Javaid – who denied the charge – had claimed any sexual contact was consensual.

Sentencing, Lord Stuart said it was clear that the teenager had been deeply affected by her ordeal.

He then went on to read in open court moving passages from impact statements – one penned by her grieving mother and an earlier one on her behalf.

From the latter of the two documents, the judge quoted the mother: “I wish to highlight the psychological torture that she was subjected to after the rape occurred.

“She received various deeply offensive and sickening messages from random accounts through social media on intimate matters that only the perpetrator could have known.

“These were received for an extended period of time, they increased the psychological torture that she had already experienced and left her feeling increasingly isolated and under attack.”

In the first of the two, it was described how the “consequences” of what happened to the young woman “remained with her for years”.

The court heard: “It affected the way she lived, the people she would see. The places she felt able to go, the way she viewed the world around her.

“It became part of every day family life…moments that should have been filled with her laughter and personality were changed by her absence and withdrawal.

“We had to watch someone we loved become isolated and frightened.

“We would offer love and support, but could not give her back the sense of safety and the freedom taken from her.”

Lord Stuart further commented himself on the victim’s “severe psychological harm and trauma” and that “through social media suffered additional humiliation and degradation”.

Jurors heard how the pair had earlier been at a party, went for some food before going to the hotel.

Javaid tried to initiate sex, the then teenager refused, but he ended up raping her.

Lord Stuart said during sentencing: “It is obvious to a (then) 20-year-old man that rape is wrong and that ‘no’ means ‘no’.”

Javaid was also put on the sex offenders list.