Livingston underpass rapist faces life sentence

Aug 19 2010 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A RAPIST who attacked a teenage shop assistant on a busy Livington footpath in the middle of the afternoon is facing a possible life sentence.

A court heard how Andrew Hamilton pounced on a path near Howden Road West, close to St John’s Hospital at around 4.20pm on May 12 this year.

Hamilton left his victim so hysterical that she was unable to speak when a former school friend tried to help her.

The 23-year-old struck as the teenager “dawdled along” on her way home from work, listening to music on her mobile phone and texting her sister.

“She had finished for the day and, as the weather was pleasant decided to walk home rather than take the bus,” said advocate depute Paul Kearney, prosecuting.

He told the High Court in Edinburgh that when Hamilton grabbed her, she thought it must be one of her friends “larking about.”

“She soon realised that she was wrong,” said Mr Kearney.

The court heard how Hamilton snatched the 18-year-old girl’s phone and earphones and began touching her. She thought her attacker was trying to rob her and asked if it was money he was after.

Hamilton then started tugging at the girl’s vest top and pulled down her leggings, said Mr Kearney.

“She was terrified at this and begged the accused to stop saying: ‘Please don’t’ to which the accused replied: ‘I’ll decide’.”

Hamilton then raped her before walking quickly away.

The court heard that an old school friend noticed the 18-year-old looking scared and distressed and trying to cover her face with a scarf.

Mr Kearney continued: “The girl went up to her friend and hugged her.

“The girl broke down and started crying. It took the friend five or six minutes to calm her down enough for her to be able to say anything to her. She was hysterical.”

When the girl tried to use her friend’s phone to call her dad she was crying so much that she was unable to do so.

“Her state of distress was such that, for a time, she could not remember her own home telephone number,” said Mr Kearney.

When her father arrived at the scene, he flagged down a passing ambulance. The paramedic also noted that the girl was hysterical and called police.

A careful search of the path beside the busy dual carriageway, which runs past the town’s civic centre and St John’s Hospital, revealed evidence which matched Hamilton’s DNA.

Hamilton had also been trying to sell the shop assistant’s iphone to friends, the court heard.

When police searched his home at Linnet Brae, Livingston, they found white shoes and a black jacket which matched the shop assistant’s description of her attacker.

When questioned, Hamilton denied having anything to do with the attack. But in court yesterday (Wednesday), he pleaded guilty to robbing and raping the girl.

Judge Lord Tyre was told that before the rape the shop assistant was “a confident young woman.” Now she never goes anywhere alone and feels unsafe, except when she is at home with her family.

She thinks constantly about the attack and feels she will always have to live with its affects.

Mr Kearney asked the judge to order a risk assessment which could lead to an order for lifelong restriction — a kind of life sentence which will keep Hamilton locked up until the parole board feel it is safe to release him.

Lord Tyre will decide the next move when Hamilton — who has a previous conviction for carrying a sharp weapon — returns to court next month.

He was remanded in custody meantime.