A Fife rapist who was last month jailed for two horrifying attacks on children has admitted campaigns of domestic abuse against two ex-partners.
Paul MacKenzie was locked up and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life after pleading guilty to woodland attacks on two 15-year-olds.
The 21-year-old returned to the dock at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court and admitted tormenting a woman over the phone in the spring of 2020, and badgering a man for sex later in the year.
MacKenzie, who was brought from HMP Polmont, was handed a concurrent prison sentence.
‘Constantly’ phoned his ex
Fiscal depute Catherine Stevenson explained that MacKenzie met the woman at Dean and Cauvin Young People’s Trust in Edinburgh, where they formed a short-lived relationship.
They remained together throughout March and April, the court heard.
He would call her names when she couldn’t fix his problems, which damaged her confidence and self-esteem.
On one occasion, MacKenzie sent a photo of himself holding a knife to his own throat.
Ms Stevenson said: “The accused constantly contacted the complainer by telephone. She described being on the phone for hours at a time and conversations would be about his problems.
“She felt if she didn’t speak on the phone, he would self-harm.”
Victim had sex to ‘appease’ MacKenzie
The court heard that another of MacKenzie’s relationships turned sour in the summer of 2020.
Ms Stevenson: “In June that year, the accused and the (second) complainer became engaged.”
She explained that MacKenzie became “controlling and abusive” and would pester his partner for sex for six months.
If his partner refused, MacKenzie became “moody,” the court heard.
The complainer described having sex with MacKenzie for “an easy life” and to appease him.
Father-of-one MacKenzie, formerly of East Quality Street in Dysart, also threatened to commit suicide to his partner.
Traumatic upbringing
Solicitor Eilidh Grant, defending, told Sheriff Derek Reekie that MacKenzie is serving eight years in jail with three more to come on license in the community when he is liberated.
She explained that MacKenzie had “a particularly traumatic upbringing” and had been in care from a very young age.
Ms Grant also highlighted MacKenzie’s low IQ which means he is considered to have a learning disability.
Sheriff Reekie sentenced MacKenzie to six months in prison. The jail term will run alongside his current sentence.
He was also banned from contacting either ex-partner for five years.
He said: “Mr MacKenzie, I’m satisfied that there’s no alternative to a custodial sentence given the sentence you’re currently serving.
“These are unpleasant offences but clearly they are a product of your traumatic upbringing.”
Already behind bars
The court previously heard that MacKenzie used so much violence when he raped a girl of 15, that she could have been killed.
MacKenzie was only 18 when he raped his first victim, a boy, also aged 15.
He was 20 when he raped the girl, whom he choked until she lost consciousness before raping her on the ground.
The High Court in Stirling heard MacKenzie, had raped the year-old boy, seizing him by the neck and injuring him, in “a wooded area” near the Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline in September 2019.
In March 2021 he raped the teenage girl in woods near Gilvenbank Park, Glenrothes, putting his hand over her mouth and repeatedly seizing and compressing her neck causing her to black out, before removing her clothing and forcing her to the ground.
He pled guilty to both offences.
Judge Lord Armstrong told him he had used “serious violence”, in particular towards the girl.
“In the course of raping that young girl you used grave force, causing injuries to her mouth and neck consistent with manual strangulation.
“You caused her to lose consciousness to the potential danger to her life.
“These crimes were both disturbing and grave.
“Society has an abhorrence of such conduct. It is important that those who might be disposed to such crimes against children understand they will receive significant custodial penalties.”
Solicitor-advocate Gordon Martin, defending, said MacKenzie “accepted responsibility” for what he had done.
He said his client had been through “considerable adverse experiences” as a child.
He said: “He is not the maturest of individuals.”
