A high-risk Aberdeenshire Paedophile sex offender, Paul Cowie, who consistently targeted an underage girl, has been sentenced to just eight years in prison.
Paul Cowie, 54, preyed upon the youngster from the age of 11, perpetrating sexual assaults and rapes throughout Aberdeenshire.
A judge informed him at the High Court in Edinburgh that the jury at his previous trial found him guilty of “a truly appalling catalogue of sexual offences against a child.”
Lord Arthurson characterised the child rapist’s conduct as demeaning and “thoroughly despicable,” while the victim, in a statement prepared for the court, referred to him as a monster.
The court stated that information presented throughout his trial indicated substantial alcohol misuse. He stated that a risk assessment conducted on Paul Cowie determined him to pose a significant danger of harm.
Lord Arthurson mandated that Paul Cowie remain under community supervision for an additional two years, during which he will be on license and subject to reincarceration for any violations of its terms.
Paul Cowie rejected the allegations of sexual abuse during a trial earlier this year but was subsequently convicted of the sex offences that occurred between 2013 and 2016.
After the verdicts were returned by a jury, Lord Arthurson told him: “You have been convicted of extremely grave serial sexual offending in respect of a child.”
During the abuse, Paul Cowie abused the girl and forced her to carry out sex acts on him.
The court heard that Paul Cowie had previously amassed 15 groups of criminal convictions but had never been previously sentenced to imprisonment.
Defence counsel Lynsey Morgan said Paul Cowie continued to maintain that the offences did not happen. She said that Cowie’s alcohol abuse was exacerbated after he separated from his wife in 2013, although he later abstained.
She told the court: “He does appreciate that a significant custodial sentence will be imposed today.”
Paul Cowie was placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely following his sentencing, and Lord Arthurson made a non harassment order banning him from contacting the victim.
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