MAN JAILED FOR FIVE YEARS FOR SICKENING ABUSE
A man involved in a pattern of criminal activity that included cruelty towards pet animals has received a five-year prison sentence.David McQuaker insisted that his victim engage in sexual activity with him and forced her into non-consensual intercourse during a series of abusive incidents aimed at her.
The 26-year-old also neglected two gerbils, one of which he discarded into a refuse chute while still alive, and he kicked a dog on the head before throwing it to the ground.
These acts of animal cruelty occurred in front of the woman, who was also subjected to physical, verbal, and sexual abuse by him.
A judge told McQuaker at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday: "The seriousness of your offending is such that a significant custodial sentence is inevitable." Lord Harrower said the victim of his abuse had provided a statement that set out the lasting psychological impact his behaviour had had on her life.
The judge said the offences he was dealing with were the first committed by McQuaker and acknowledged he had a good work record.
McQuaker, formerly of Cairndale Cottage, Maybole, was earlier found guilty of engaging in a course of abusive behaviour against the woman between 2019 and 2023 in Ayr, Maybole and elsewhere, which included the sexual offending.
He shouted, swore and acted aggressively towards the victim and made threatening and derogatory remarks, and isolated the woman from friends and family.
He brandished a knife and pushed the woman onto a couch and onto the floor during the course of the coercive abuse she suffered at his hands.
McQuaker was also convicted of assaulting a teenager at a house in Ayr in July 2020 when he grabbed her mobile phone, pushed her, pulled her to the floor and struck her with his hand.
He also admitted a further charge of behaving in a threatening or abusive way in January 2023 at an address in Ayr by threatening to kill himself and others during an online live stream.
Defence counsel David Taylor said McQuaker was assessed as posing a moderate risk of reoffending and his immaturity at the time of the offending was "a significant factor in this case".
He said: "Although no rape charges were on the indictment, essentially that was very much a central feature of the case.
"The jury were charged on that basis and have convicted on that basis." McQuaker was placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely and the judge made non-harassment orders prohibiting him from contacting or attempting to contact victims.
