A taxi driver who raped a teenage female passenger in a parking lot and then left her in sub-zero temperatures has been jailed for six years and nine months.
In December 2023, David Brown, 50, picked up an 18-year-old girl after she spent the night in Inverness and wanted to return to her Highland village.
Instead, Brown drove past her destination before pulling into a layby near a farm somewhere between Strathspever and Dingwall and sexually assaulted her. He then left her in Dingwall.
Judge Lord Renucci told Brown he had forced the teenager to go through the horrific ordeal.
In pre-recorded evidence at an earlier trial, Brown’s victim told how he agreed to drive her home even though she did not have enough money to pay for the ride.
Instead, Brown headed into rural Ross-shire where he pulled into a layby.
He then groped the girl and sexually assaulted her before forcing her to perform sex acts.
The girl later contacted police who were able to track down Brown and detectives gathered enough evidence to take him to court.
Brown’s journey to the rural location where he committed the rape on December 3, 2023, was traced through the tracking system of his own car.
stay in freezing conditions
Lord Renucci said Brown then “threw” the teenager back to Dingwall in the early hours, despite the temperature being -4C.
A member of staff at Tesco in town saw the girl, took pity on her and opened the store to let her in to escape the cold.
Lord Renucci said: “When she got into your taxi that night she was entitled to assume that you would fulfill the duty you had undertaken – to get her safely to her own home, which was some distance away.
“Instead you continued driving through the area where she lived before taking her to Dingwall where we know from your car’s tracking system that you drove around the town and suburbs before stopping at a secluded and remote layby near a farm.
“It was at that stop that you raped her. She was only 18. You were 47, so much older.
“This must have been a horrific ordeal for your victim, who was undoubtedly in a vulnerable state as a result of her intoxication – which you exploited for your own sexual gratification.”
Brown, from Croy, near Inverness, appeared at the High Court in Stirling via video link from prison.
He denied the rape charge and claimed he had had consensual sex, but a jury found him guilty after a three-day trial in Edinburgh last month.
Defense attorney Bill Adam said Brown still stands by that position.
Lord Renucci said: “[This was] Version of events rejected by jury. “
Brown showed no emotion during the sentencing.
As well as being jailed, Brown was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.
