Sex attacker pleads guilty to brutal attack

Sep 2 2010 by Marjorie Kerr, West Lothian Courier

A SEX attacker raped and tried to murder a prostitute after abducting her and dumping her in the boot of his car during a terrifying ordeal.

Ewan Mackay (30) throttled the woman and hit her with a claw hammer and told her: “Women are all slags.”

Mackay even complained about the blood-stained carpet in the boot of his car.

His 28-year-old victim eventually fled by jumping out of his moving car and running to a neighbouring house to seek help.

Mackay, who previously escaped a jail sentence after trying to strangle a woman with a sock, after a report suggested he was suffering from a sleep disorder, now faces a life sentence for his latest crime.

Mackay, formerly of Glenmore, Whitburn, admitted raping the woman and assaulting her to her severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of her life and attempting to murder her in December last year.

The network engineer picked up the woman, who worked to fund her heroin addiction, in Leith in the early hours of December 6, and drove her to West Telferton industrial estate in Portobello.

Advocate depute Kath Harper said: “The victim began to feel uneasy as she did not know where she was.

“The accused said to her that he liked to do it outside the car and she got out,” she said.

But Mackay then grabbed the woman’s throat and compressed it until she lost consciousness and fell.

When she came round the weeping woman tried to use her mobile phone but he grabbed it from her and threw it away.

He tried to have sex with her but the victim was moving and he became increasingly angry.

Ms Harper said the woman lost consciousness again and when she came round she was in the boot of a moving car.

After about 20 minutes the car stopped and Mackay opened the boot and the victim begged him to let her go.

But he dragged her out of the boot and the woman tried to run towards the road. However, Mackay caught up with her and began hitting her over the head.

The bleeding victim tried to flee again but was grabbed again and realised she had been struck with a claw hammer before she was raped twice.

She was then put back in the boot of the car and was driven to Mackay’s home in Whitburn.

He told her to get out the boot and said: “Look what you have done to my car.”

She was dragged into the house and Mackay got a large knife and duct tape and told her to take off her clothes.

The woman stripped to her underwear, tape was put over her mouth and her wrists were taped together and she was pushed at knifepoint upstairs.

She was pushed into the bathroom and he ran a bath before cutting her bra straps with the knife and taking off her pants.

The woman, now in tears, was told to get in the bath before he undressed and got in with her.

The woman heard a noise and Mackay told her: “You’ve woke my son. Look what you’ve done.”

She apologised and he got out of the bath and dressed before dragging her out and telling her he was getting out of the house.

The woman was put in the front passenger seat of his car and as he drove along the street she jumped out and ran to houses to seek help.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was taken to St John’s Hospital in Livingston, while police went to Mackay’s home.

He was seen drinking alcohol and eventually passed out knives to police and left the house, after negotiators were called in, and he was detained.

The victim was found to have a fractured skull and hands and multiple blood clots in a lung.

Temporary judge Rita Rae QC was shown photos of the injuries inflicted on the woman and commented they were “pretty horrific”.

Ms Harper said: “The victim states that this incident has caused her to be terrified when she is alone and when it is dark. She has lost all her confidence.”

The prosecutor said that the Crown was seeking to have a full risk assessment carried out on Mackay, which can lead to the making of an Order for Lifelong Restriction, because of his latest crime and previous offending.

Defence counsel Bill Adam said Mackay had “no recollection” of the events in his latest offence.

Miss Rae told Mackay: “Obviously this is a very serious crime, a very violent sexual attack on a young woman.”

The judge said he had a significant conviction and added: “Clearly there must be very grave concerns about the danger you pay at present to members of the public.”

She said she would call for a full risk assessment to be carried out on him and remanded him in custody after deferring sentence in the case until November.