A Dundee man has been locked up after being found guilty of the rape and sexual abuse of young children which started when he was just 12-years-old.
Ronald Hathway was found guilty by a jury of raping a six-year-old girl and carrying out a serious sex attack on an eight-year-old girl.
Lord Ericht deferred sentence on the father-of-eight for the preparation of background reports and remanded him in custody.
At the High Court in Dundee, the judge said: “You have been convicted of five offences on indictment.
“You have been convicted of a number of very serious offences and will be remanded.”
Solicitor-advocate Kris Gilmartin, defending, said: “This is an unusual case, given the age of the accused at the time of the offences.
“He is 38 and lives with his wife and eight children and his wife is pregnant at the moment.
“He has never been in prison before.”
Rapes and abuse
The jury found Hathway, of Dundee, guilty by a majority of offences which took place at locations in the city around a quarter of a century ago.
He was found guilty of acting in a lewd and libidinous manner towards an eight-year-old girl in an area known as Strawberry Fields, near Pitkerro Grove cemetery, between December 1996 and June 1998.
Hathway was found guilty of putting a cigarette in the other child’s mouth, before raping her in a cellar on a single occasion between May 21 1997 – when she was six – and May 20 1999.
He was found guilty of attempting to rape her in the cellar on a second occasion and of attacking and raping her on an area of ground in the Balunie part of the city.
The jury also found him guilty of getting her to lie on a table in a shed before lowering her clothing and raping her.
Sentence was deferred to the High Court in Edinburgh on January 10.
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