A vile Peterhead man has been found guilty of repeatedly raping his unconscious wife while she was on strong medication to help her sleep.
John Lindsay raped the mother of his children on various occasions at their Portlethen home while she was in a deep sleep and would not wake up.
Michelle Newman, who has waived her right to anonymity, began to suspect what was happening and the 38-year-old then confronted him.
But the brazen sex offender lied and claimed that nothing had happened.
Lindsay, 39, denied a charge of rape but a jury found him guilty after hearing disturbing evidence during a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen this week.
‘He’s behind bars, I’m going to be safe’
After the court case, Ms Newman bravely waived her right to anonymity to speak about her horrific ordeal with The Press and Journal.
When she heard that Lindsay had been found guilty, Ms Newman broke down in tears of relief, following a decade-long wait for justice.
“I didn’t expect a guilty verdict,” she said. “I’m over the moon. I just didn’t feel like I was believed. He gave me 10 years of hell since this all kicked off.
“Now I know he’s behind bars, I know I’m going to be safe again.”
Giving evidence during the trial, Ms Newman told advocate depute John Keenan she had been on various prescribed medications that made her “very sleepy” and feel “like a zombie” at the time.
Asked how deeply she would sleep, she replied: “I was unconscious. I wouldn’t wake up”.
She told the court, in harrowing detail, how she woke up one morning and found evidence that Lindsay had sex with her during the night while she was asleep.
She immediately phoned her husband and challenged him about it but he denied anything had happened.
Ms Newman described confiding in her dad about what had happened and how she felt “broken, very anxious, scared”.
Victim recorded attacker’s confession
Her father bought her a onesie which she then wore to bed every night, but would wake up to find the zip undone and the onesie partially or even fully off.
But Ms Newman still had doubts about what was happening and wanted to make absolutely certain.
One night, she deliberately didn’t take her medication and pretended to be asleep.
A tearful Ms Newman then described feeling Lindsay remove her onesie and start to rape her.
She said: “I jumped up and ran downstairs. I was very upset, confused and scared”.
Years later, Ms Newman managed to record Lindsay admitting that he’d raped her.
Eventually, with the help of her new partner, Ms Newman built up the courage to report the matter to the police.
‘AÂ custodial sentence is a certainty’
Jurors took just over two-and-a-half hours to convict Lindsay, by a majority, of raping Ms Newman between October 2012 and March 2013.
He raped the woman while she was asleep and incapable of giving or withholding consent.
After the verdict was returned, Judge Summers told Lindsay: “You have been convicted of a very grave offence.
“You will understand, given the gravity of the offence, that, in due course, the imposition of a custodial sentence is a certainty.”
The judge deferred sentence on Lindsay until next month for reports and remanded him in custody in the meantime.
Lindsay, whose address had been given as Duthie Gardens, Peterhead, will be sentenced next month.
He has been placed on the sex offenders register in the meantime.
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