A MAN is to stand trial accused of a horrific catalogue of rapes, violent assaults and sex attacks, including an allegation that he so violently attacked a pregnant woman that she had a miscarriage.
Brian McTaggart faced a total of 18 charges – some of which date back as far as 1980 – when he appeared at Dundee Sheriff Court today.
One charge alleges that in 1983 he attacked one of his alleged victims repeatedly at addresses across Dundee.
The charge accuses McTaggart of holding her over a stairwell in a close before kicking her down the stairs.
He is then alleged to have repeatedly kicked and punched her on the ribs and back while she was pregnant, causing her to have a miscarriage.
McTaggart is then alleged to hung a hairdryer over a bath full of water and threatened to drop it in, and in another incident driven a car at her in an attempt to run her over.
Prosecutors say the victim was also raped and on numerous occasions abducted by McTaggart.
McTaggart is said to have had 11 separate victims over the duration of the offences, which include charges of rape, assault to the danger of life and indecent assault.
Further charges allege that last year he “culpably and recklessly” set fires at three separate addresses in Edinburgh.
McTaggart, 52, of no fixed abode, made no plea or declaration to the 18 charges during a private hearing on petition at Dundee Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Alastair Brown fully committed McTaggart for trial and granted him bail.
However, fiscal depute Stewart Duncan said the Crown would appeal bail, and McTaggart will be held in custody until a bail appeal is heard at the High Court next week.
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