Man jailed after date drug rape
A Fife man convicted of drugging and raping a 21-year-old woman last June has been sentenced to five years in prison at the High Court in Edinburgh. David Symon, 32, from Dunfermline, used the so-called date-rape drug GHB to subdue his victim, the court heard. Symon's conviction is thought to be the first in Scotland involving the drug. Judge Roger Craik QC told him: "You took advantage of a situation where the victim was unconscious and unaware of what was happening." He added that the court took the matter "extremely seriously". At an earlier hearing, the woman told the court that she was invited to a party on the outskirts of Dunfermline.
Drug traces found
She said Symon gave her a couple o
f drinks from a bottle which she thought had once contained Irn Bru and he had some himself. She said: "I didn't know what effect it might have. I was just sitting there and it was like my head would explode and I couldn't see in front of me." The victim said the next thing she recalled was waking up in a house with Symon. She was lying naked on the floor and Symon was on top of her. Symon, of Pentland Terrace, had denied raping the woman on 1 June last year. The charge stated that he had left his victim "bereft of the power of resistance" because he had given her gammahydroxybutyrate.
f drinks from a bottle which she thought had once contained Irn Bru and he had some himself. She said: "I didn't know what effect it might have. I was just sitting there and it was like my head would explode and I couldn't see in front of me." The victim said the next thing she recalled was waking up in a house with Symon. She was lying naked on the floor and Symon was on top of her. Symon, of Pentland Terrace, had denied raping the woman on 1 June last year. The charge stated that he had left his victim "bereft of the power of resistance" because he had given her gammahydroxybutyrate.The court heard how police found the suspicious drink bottle in Symon's home and tests revealed traces of GHB. The drug, commonly known as GHB, is a clear, odourless liquid which produces feelings of euphoria in small quantities, like alcohol, but higher doses cause "an unrousable-type sleep" for one to four hours. As well as receiving a five-year jail sentence, Symons was placed on the sex offenders register.
The victim, who has not been named, told BBC Scotland that she was no longer able to trust anybody. She said: "I can never look at anybody, like a boy, in the same light."
Rape Crisis worker Sandy Brindley said women should be encouraged by the fact that it is possible in Scotland to bring such a prosecution. She said: "If you are raped and drugs are involved there is a possibility you will get justice for your experience and that has to be welcomed."
From BBCNews. co.uk
Drugged and raped…but what they slipped in my drink could have killed me
Chilling truth about chemical cocktails used in sex crimes.
Chilling truth about chemical cocktails used in sex crimes.
When Tania left her cola on the table and nipped the pub loo, she had no idea of the nightmare that would follow.Two men at the bar secretly slipped a sedative into her drink and waited until the drug took effect. Then they whisked her back to their flat and drugged her again before repeatedly raping her.It has taken the 28-year-old from Dorset years to get over her terrifying ordeal, but it could have been even worse. For many of the drugs favoured by rapists like the pair who attacked Tania have deadly side-effects and are capable of killing you.
One of them, GHB, could cause death from respiratory failure if mixed with alcohol. Another, ketamine, can be fatal if taken with GHB and alcohol. Then there are tranquilisers called benzodiazepines, which have been linked with damage to the brain and nervous system.
You might think you’d be safe enough in a pub or a club with plenty of people around. But some ruthless men use these places to prey on unsuspecting women – and it takes just seconds to spike a drink and turn it into a powerful chemical cocktail.
You might think you’d be safe enough in a pub or a club with plenty of people around. But some ruthless men use these places to prey on unsuspecting women – and it takes just seconds to spike a drink and turn it into a powerful chemical cocktail.
Date-rape drugs are hard to spot and fast-working. Now police and healthcare professionals are warning women to be ever-vigilant in bars, pubs and clubs, especially when dealing with strangers.Shocking figures show that drug-induced rapes are reaching alarming levels – and official statistics are probably the tip of the iceberg as many assaults still go unreported.
The Drug Rape Trust charity helped more than 1500 women in 2001, twice as many as the previous year. And attacks reported to the Roofie Foundation, a UK drug-rape help group, rocketed from 39 in 1990 to 804 in 2000. The full toll every year runs into the thousands.
Dep Chief Insp Peter Sturman set up the Drug Rape Trust after researching the chilling sex crime. He says, ‘I discovered that there are a lot of people out there being attacked, not believed and not receiving the services that society should give them. Somebody had to help them’
Dep Chief Insp Peter Sturman set up the Drug Rape Trust after researching the chilling sex crime. He says, ‘I discovered that there are a lot of people out there being attacked, not believed and not receiving the services that society should give them. Somebody had to help them’