A Dundee rapist who was jailed for having unprotected sex with a 12-year-old girl has failed in a bid to be released from prison.
Callum Rae, 21, was caught by police after fleeing from a house in Dundee wearing only socks and told officers: “She lied about her age.”
A judge at the High Court in Edinburgh heard that the victim had said that Rae would have thought she was 16 at the time.
Passing sentence, Lord Beckett told Rae: “In law this is the crime of rape even although you did not know she was 12.”
The judge said he accepted that Rae was not forceful or coercive and has expressed remorse.
Lawyers for Rae went to the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh to argue that the sentence given to Rae was too harsh.
They argued that there had been “exceptional mitigating circumstances” to Rae’s behaviour and that Lord Beckett should have given him a community payback order rather than a jail term.
His legal team said that these factors were that he thought the girl was 16, that he didn’t manipulate her or force or coerce her into sex.
The appeal judges also heard that the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons was a “willing and active participant” in sexual intercourse.
However, appeal judges Lady Dorrian, Lord Pentland and Lord Matthews rejected the defence submissions.
In a written judgement issued on Friday, Lady Dorrian concluded that Rae’s criminal record and the fact that court appointed social workers thought he was at high risk of committing another sexual offence meant that Lord Beckett had acted correctly.
Lady Dorrian wrote: “In the present case, the sentencing judge had before him a Criminal Justice Social Work Report and a Tayside Project assessment.
“The former suggested that the appellant presented a high risk of sexual re-conviction, and a very high risk of re conviction for a violent offence.
“The Tayside Project assessment reached a similar conclusion. The Criminal Justice Social Work Report suggested that the only protective factor was that the appellant was currently incarcerated.
“There was particular concern regarding his conduct within relationships and towards females.
“However he also noted that the appellant was not a first offender, having numerous previous convictions, had previously failed to attend at court, had breached court orders in a variety of ways and was subject to deferred sentence when he committed this crime.
“There was no indication that he was likely to cooperate successfully with a community payback order. In these circumstances the sentencing judge concluded that there was no suitable alternative to imprisonment.
“He was entitled to reach that conclusion. The appeal must therefore be refused.”
During proceedings last year defence advocate Victoria Dow said it was “quite an exceptional case on its facts” and added: “There is still an opportunity for change at his age.”
Rae earlier admitted sexually assaulting the girl and raping her at a house in Dundee on May 15 in 2019 when she was aged 12.
The court heard that Rae had previously communicated with the girl through social media, such as Snapchat.
She had met up with a 16-year-old girlfriend and both drank vodka before meeting up with Rae and going back to his house.
Rae, then aged 19, took part in consensual activity with the 16-year-old before asking the 12-year-old if she wanted to have sex and having intercourse with her.
The girl later told her mother that she had sex with a 19-year-old and police were contacted.
The girl identified Rae from a batch of images she was shown and officers went to a house in a bid to trace him.
Rae, who followed proceedings via video link from Polmont young offenders’ institution, was jailed for 21 months for the child sex crime and a further six months for failing to appear at court earlier this year.
Lord Beckett also ordered that he should be kept under supervision for a further two years and told him he would be on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.
