Sex attacker who raped 14-year-old girl in Dumfries jailed for seven years

A man who raped a 14-year-old girl has been jailed for seven years.

Jarrid Duff attacked the teenager at a house in Dumfries on January 13 this year.

The 25-year-old prevented his victim getting help ripping off her smartwatch as she tried to call police.

Duff only stopped when someone knocked on the front door.

He was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow, having earlier pleaded guilty to assaulting and raping the girl to her injury.

Duff already had previous convictions for violence, with an earlier hearing told how Duff had started “acting weird” leaving the girl feeling “very uncomfortable”.

She tried to leave the room, but the attacker grabbed her and ordered her to strip.

Lord Clark jailed him and also ordered he be supervised for a further three years on his release.

Prosecutor Lorraine Glancy KC said: “When she asked why and refused, he told her that if she did not, he would kill her.

“He told her the reason he was doing this was due to the clothes she was wearing and that it was her fault.”

The young victim was “slammed” onto a bed.

KC Glancy continued: “She was scared and therefore complied with Duff’s instructions removing her own clothing.”

As Duff attacked the terrified girl, she started yelling, but was ordered to shut up.

The prosecutor said: “He told her he would suffocate her with the pillow.

“The child was trying to push it away, but he pushed it down over her face harder. She was unable to breathe and thought she was going to die.”

The ordeal continued and the girl desperately attempted to raise the alarm.

“She tried to call the police from her Apple watch, which Duff then ripped off her and threw to the other side of the bed,” KC Glancy said.

Duff stopped after being interrupted by a knock at the door – he then insisted he “could not live with himself”.

“He said the devil was inside him. He kept telling the child to stop crying,” the prosecutor added.

The shaken victim managed to escape to a nearby house, with Duff later discovered in a wooded area.

Callum Hiller, defending, said the rapist had written a letter for Lord Clark containing a “significant level of shame, guilt and remorse”.

The judge told Duff the sentence would have been ten years if not for the guilty plea, noting that the young victim will be badly affected by what happened.

Lord Clark told Duff in his sentencing statement: “Your conduct was appalling. The young girl had trusted you but you subjected her to a terrifying ordeal – violent rapes causing injury.

“You set up the opportunity to carry out the acts and you controlled the event. You did so while heavily under the influence of alcohol and drugs.”