Taxi driver raped teenager, then dumped her in sub-zero temperatures
A taxi driver who raped a young female passenger before dropping her off in sub-zero temperatures has been jailed for six years and nine months.
David Brown, 50, picked up the 18-year-old, who had spent a night in Inverness and wanted to return to the Highland village in December 2023.
Instead, Brown drove past her destination and sexually assaulted her before driving to a layover near a farm somewhere between Strathpeffer and Dingwall. He then left her at Dingwall.
Judge Lord Renucci told Brown he had forced the teenager to undergo a terrifying ordeal.
At an earlier hearing, in pre-recorded evidence, Brown’s victim described how she agreed to run her household despite not having enough money to pay the fee.
But Brown instead set out for the Ross-shire countryside and waited there.
He then groped the girl and sexually assaulted her before forcing her to perform a sex act.
The girl later contacted police, Brown was able to track down Brown, and detectives gathered enough evidence to bring him to trial.
Brown’s trip to the rural area where he committed the rape on December 3, 2023, was recovered from his own car’s tracking system.
Left in the freezing cold
Lord Renucci said Brown “threw” back to Dingwall in the early hours of the morning despite the temperature being -4C.
One of the employees of the Tesco in town saw the girl, took pity on her and opened the store to save her from the cold.
Lord Renucci said: “When he got into your taxi that night he had every right to think that you would carry out your duty, namely to deliver him safely to his own distant home.
“Instead you continued on your way, passing the area where he lived and taking him to Dingwall, where you drove through the town and outskirts before stopping at a secluded and remote location near a farm, as we knew from the car’s tracking system.
“You raped her at the time. She was only 18. You were much older at the time as she was 47 years old.
“This must have been a terrible ordeal for your victim, who was undoubtedly in a vulnerable state due to his intoxication and which you exploited for your own sexual gratification.”
Brown, of Croy, near Inverness, appeared at the High Court in Stirling for sentencing via prison video link.
He denied the charge of rape and claimed consensual sex, but was found guilty by a jury after a three-day trial in Edinburgh last month.
Defense attorney Bill Adam said Brown still maintains that position.
Lord Renucci said: “[This was] a version of events that was rejected by the jury.”
Brown showed no emotion as the sentence was announced.
In addition to his prison sentence, Brown was placed on the sex offender registry for life.
