A woman who was physically and sexually abused by a Fife ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ rapist has expressed “disgust” at the softness of his 10-year jail sentence.
Speaking publicly for the first time in a interview with The Courier, Kimberly McIntyre said she was a “broken shell” of a woman after falling prey to the charms of serial abuser Darren Butler.
However, she is now determined other victims of domestic abuse should learn from her experience and is urging them to “speak up” before it is too late.
Kimberly (21) decided to speak out just days after her ex-boyfriend was jailed for 10 years for carrying out a catalogue of physical and sexual abuse on women.
Butler, from Kelty, was found guilty of perpetrating a string of attacks on his victims despite lodging special defences at his trial claiming he acted in self-defence after alleging four women attacked him.
Kimberly said: “I am disgusted at his sentence. When you think of the amount of lives he has ruined, it’s nothing.
“For more than two years I’ve been physically and mentally ill because of him.
“No sentence compensates for what has happened. I’ve been a broken shell of a woman, but having been through this court case I now know I’m not the worst.
“Now the message I want to send out to every girl and man is speak up. Do not suffer in silence. Do not let situations like this continue. It’ll only get worse.”
Edinburgh High Court heard Butler (32) raped three of his victims and carried out painful indecent assaults on the fourth during attacks. He had denied the offences but was found guilty of 15 charges by a jury after a trial.
A judge told Butler: “It is clear your conduct has had a devastating effect on the lives of the victims.”
Lord Glennie said women had been changed from bubbly personalities to being “wracked by fear, anxiety and depression”.
Butler told police during an interview: “If somebody says ‘no’ I take it as a ‘no’. I’d never force them against their will.”
But one of Butler’s victims told the court he punched her and burst her lip before forcing himself on her sexually.
The father of one of the women told the court during his evidence: “That man there (Butler) should not be with any woman at all.”
Butler’s assaults on women began in 1998 and continued up until 2010. Butler, currently a prisoner, was described as “a serial abuser” by prosecutor Tim Niven-Smith, who said evidence showed he was an “angry, violent man” who with a drink in him was a Jekyll and Hyde character.
During the assaults Butler punched and kicked women and one had a machete held at her neck and was cut.
One woman in her thirties described how Butler “sort of wormed his way in” with her.
He was placed on the sex offenders register for life.
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