A man accused of committing dozens of horrific offences in the Highlands apologised to one of his alleged victims after he finished raping her, a court has heard.
One woman, now aged 32, said she was attacked by Duncan Begg about 15 years ago at her home in Caithness.
She told the High Court in Aberdeen yesterday that the 48-year-old had been at her house that evening and had drunk about a bottle of whisky.
The woman, who cannot be named, said an argument broke out between them and Begg ripped her nightdress, leaving her completely naked.
He then grabbed her and threw her outside into her back garden, she added.
The court heard she begged and screamed to be let back in until Begg finally opened the door and allowed her to come inside.
He then raped her on her kitchen floor, she said.
The woman said Begg pinned her down, leaving her powerless to stop him, until “something must have clicked inside his mind” and he stopped and apologised.
She said she didn’t tell police about what had happened to her until years later as she was “ashamed and embarrassed”.
Begg is on trial facing 43 charges, including 10 rapes involving three women and the attempted rape of a baby.
He is also accused of trying to “cook” another child by placing him over a lit cooker and under a grill, as well as killing a kitten.
Begg, of 14 Cruachan Place, Portree, Skye, denies all the offences, which allegedly took place in Caithness between January 1984 and January 2010.
He has lodged a special defence claiming all the sexual contact between himself and the women was consensual.
The trial before Judge Morris continues.