A Peterhead man who secretly raped his wife while she was on strong sleep medication has been jailed for seven years.
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, 39, bravely waived her right to anonymity when her ex-partner was convicted following a trial in order to speak out about what happened and help others.
Lindsay, 39, had denied a charge of rape but a jury found him guilty after hearing disturbing evidence during a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen last month.
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.
After the verdict was returned, Judge Summers told Lindsay: “You have been convicted of a very grave offence.”
Lindsay, whose address had been given as Duthie Gardens, Peterhead, was also placed on the sex offenders register and handed a 10-year non-harassment order.
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”.
‘He gave me 10 years of hell’
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.
After the court case, Ms Newman spoke to the Press and Journal about how her ex-husband’s vile crimes had affected her life.
“He gave me 10 years of hell since this all kicked off,” she said. “Now I know he’s behind bars, I know I’m going to be safe again.”
Eventually, with the help of her new partner, Ms Newman built up the courage to report the matter to the police.
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