A predator who attacked two women in Dundee after they left a university library, attempting to rape one, has been jailed for six years and eight months.
Derek Lewis attacked both women the same evening and also entered a student flat in an incident described as “truly sinister”.
Social workers who prepared a risk assessment said it appeared he was “determined to have a victim for sexual crimes”.
Judge Lady Poole told Lewis, 40, his actions had been “traumatic and frightening” for his victims.
She had earlier told him he had sent “shockwaves through the wider community”.
In addition to the jail term, she made him subject to an extension period of four years, during which time he can be returned to custody if he reoffends, and placed him on the sex offenders’ register for life.
Predator
Lewis pled guilty to attempted rape, assault and threatening or abusive behaviour when he appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh last month.
Lewis admitted assaulting one woman at Kirk Lane at around 9.20pm by following her, attempting to engage her in conversation and seizing her from behind, covering her mouth with his hands and struggling with her.
The court heard he let go the 28-year-old after she struggled and a car drove past.
Unemployed Lewis, formerly of Tulloch Court, Hilltown, further admitted sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a woman at King Street at around 11.30pm.
In a “horrifying, prolonged and violent attack”, he followed and grabbed her, dragged her by the body and repeatedly pushed her to the ground.
He held and restrained the woman, sat on her legs, tried to take off his trousers and pulled down her lower clothing and molested her.
He had dragged the 50-year-old into an area of bushes as she pleaded with him, even telling him she had cancer as she tried to make him stop.
A resident heard and saw what was happening and went to help the woman as Lewis fled, to be traced later thanks to CCTV footage.
He was found “unresponsive in the street” through drink or drugs about half-an-hour later.
Lewis also pled guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive way between the assaults by entering a flat in Panmure Street without the knowledge or consent of the occupants.
He took knives from the kitchen, leaving one on a chest of drawers in a bedroom, before being found hiding in a bathroom with another
He was “bravely removed” from the flat by residents.
‘Preyed on people’
Solicitor-advocate Kris Gilmartin, defending, said: “He is remorseful and ashamed of his actions.”
Lewis showed no emotion as Lady Poole said previous domestic crimes suggested he had a history of offending against women.
She said: “You preyed on a series of people in the vicinity of a university.
“You say you had been taking drugs and alcohol but that’s no excuse for your disgraceful course of behaviour.”
She said victim impact statements made it clear he had caused his victims serious and lasting emotional and other harm.
She said: “Offences of this nature must attract a substantial custodial sentence.”
Scotland’s Procurator Fiscal for High Court Sexual Offending, Katrina Parkes, said: “Derek Lewis is a dangerous individual who preyed on these two women as they were walking home.
“The trauma inflicted by this type of behaviour is unimaginable.
“His offending resulted in an additional three people being left in fear after discovering him inside their home, where they should have been safe.
“I hope this prosecution brings some assurance to the local community and beyond that COPFS takes this type of criminal conduct extremely seriously.”
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