September 2014 Jailed for rapes and assault on teens An Aberdeen man who carried out three rapes and an indecent assault has been jailed for eight years and nine months. David Cruickshank, 30, admitted one rape and was convicted of the other two. He also admitted touching an 18-year-old sexually while she was having an epileptic fit. Cruickshank was jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh, where Lord Uist said the seriousness of the crimes was “self-evident”. The crimes involved four different young victims. The judge said: “You had an unsettled upbringing and suffered from an autistic spectrum disorder, but that did not effect your criminal responsibility for your actions, although it does explain your apparent lack of remorse for what you did.” Unemployed Cruickshank, formerly of Balnagask Wynd, Torry, raped his first victim, a 12-year-old, between 1999 and 2000. Cruickshank was placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely. August 2014 Serial rapist sexually assaulted teenager while she was having an epileptic seizure A serial rapist indecently assaulted a teenager while she was having an epileptic fit. David Cruickshank, 30, touched the 18-year-old while she was having the seizure in her flat in Aberdeen. The court heard the victim would have been aware of what was going on at the time.
Cruickshank, from Aberdeen, was also convicted of raping three underage girls. His crimes only came to light after one of his victims told a family member what had happened, years after the offence was committed. The rapist was confronted and later sent a message to one of his victims asking for forgiveness, the court was told. Cruickshank pleaded guilty last week to the indecent assault and one of the rape charges at a pre-trial hearing at the High Court in Aberdeen.
The court heard the defendant was 15 when he carried out the rape. Cruickshank’s pleas were revealed yesterday after he was found guilty by a jury at the High Court for two more rapes involving underage girls. The guilty pleas were accepted by the court last week but could not be reported until Cruickshank’s two-day trial finished on Friday.
The pre-trial hearing heard how Cruickshank indecently assaulted the woman who was having a fit at some time between November 2005 and February 2009. Cruickshank knew the 18-year-old at the time of the offence. Advocate depute Bill McVicar said: ‘During the seizure she was aware of what was going around her.’ The hearing also heard how Cruickshank attacked a girl when he was 15.
He pinned her to the ground in the kitchen of a property in Aberdeen and raped her, the court was told.  The offence took place between September 1999 and March 2000. Cruickshank pleaded not guilty to the other two rape charges. The jury of eight men and seven women took just over an hour to find him guilty of raping the two girls.
The court heard Cruickshank raped one of the girls in Aberdeen when she was aged between seven and 11.
He also raped another girl, also in Aberdeen, when she was aged between six and 10. Both offences took place between November 1999 and March 2003. Judge Lord Uist called for reports yesterday. Cruickshank is to be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh next month. He was put on the sex offenders register and remanded in custody.