A Fife man with a ‘revenge porn’ conviction has been jailed for five years for raping a sleeping woman at a party who was unable to provide consent.
Despicable Lee Patrick, 24, preyed on his victim – who cannot be named for legal reasons – at a house in Leven, Fife, on October 13, 2018.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard on Thursday how the woman had become intoxicated after consuming some alcohol and taking ecstasy.
A jury had earlier heard how the woman had fallen asleep and that Patrick sexually assaulted her.
Jury rejected ‘consensual’ claim
During proceedings last month, Patrick claimed that the encounter was consensual. But after hearing his victim describe her ordeal, jurors convicted Patrick on one charge of rape.
On Thursday, judge Simon Collins QC sent Patrick to prison.
He said: “You have a previous conviction for what can be colloquially described as a revenge porn conviction. This was a serious offence which had caused significant harm to your victim.
“You have shown no remorse and you have failed to show the court that you have a plan to address your offending behaviour.
“Your offending behaviour shows you have a disturbing tendency or disregarding the rights and wellbeing of others and there is no alternative in this case to imposing a lengthy custodial term.”
Witnessed by party guest
Patrick, of Methil, Fife, had denied one charge of rape. Sentence had been deferred to the High Court in Edinburgh in order for judge Collins to obtain a report on Patrick’s background.
During Patrick’s September 2021 trial at the High Court in Livingston, the jury heard from another guest at the party who witnessed Patrick having sex with the unconscious woman and told him he was a “dirty b*****d”.
When the woman eventually wakened and heard the eye witness laughing at her plight she asked Patrick: “What the f*** is going on?’
As he grabbed her neck and tried to kiss her she told him: “No” and went through to a bedroom to tell a friend he had raped her.
Victim ‘froze’
Patrick’s victim claimed she was “just tipsy” when she fell asleep on the sofa in the living room of a house in Leven, Fife, after a night out.
She said she thought she was dreaming when she woke several times to find the accused raping her. She said she “froze” initially.
She told the jury: “I tried to speak but couldn’t verbalise anything. I could open my mouth but couldn’t say anything. It felt like I had pins and needles all over my body and I was like a dead weight.”
She said Patrick became more and more aggressive and that she tried to stop him, adding: “He moved backward and said something like ‘come on’.
“I stood up and he grabbed the back of my neck and tried to pull me in to kiss him and I said ‘No’. I said something along the lines of ‘What the f*** is going on?’
She said she could hear a man watching them from an armchair in the corner of the room laughing.
On her way home at 7.10am she sent a text to a university friend saying: “Just woke up to some actual creep trying to have sex with me. Cool!”
She explained: “I often try and make light of the situation so it was done in a sarcastic way alluding to the fact that it’s obviously not cool.”
About a week later she disclosed she had been raped in a note to her dance teacher which said: “He whispered something in my ear, that’s how I knew it was him.”
Call for leniency
On Thursday, defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson asked Judge Collins for leniency for Patrick.
However, judge Collins told his client that there was no alternative to custody.
