Rapist jailed for sex attacks

The woman went to police last year sparking an investigation into Steven Devery after making the comment during a Facebook conversation.

Devery (45) of Glenlyon Place, Leven, had denied raping the woman while she was asleep and under the influence of an unknown substance at a house in his home town between January 2004 and December 2005.

But a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh earlier found him guilty of the offence along with a previous sex attack on a teenager at a house in Methil, committed between December 2000 and November the following year.

He was acquitted of a further indecent assault between January 2005 and December the following year when he was alleged to have pushed a third woman against a wall and touched her breasts and buttocks at a house in Leven.

A judge told Devery: “Your crimes were opportunistic and in each case were directed against the women concerned in circumstances where they were vulnerable.”

Lord Armstrong said a victim impact statement from the woman who was raped clearly set out “the very negative impact which your actions had on her life”.

The judge said a background report on Devery indicated he continued to deny his guilt, took no responsibility for what he had done nor shown any empathy for the victims.

The rape victim, now aged 36, rejected a claim that she and Devery had got into a bed at the house in Leven and both fell asleep and nothing had happened.

She said: “He came out the door after me and asked if everything was going to be ok between us.”

The victim of the earlier indecent assault said she had been staying over at the house in Methil with her then boyfriend and Devery had been in the same room after he had been drinking and smoking cannabis.

She said she had had about three drinks but did not take drugs. She told the court that she had only started abusing drugs after Devery’s assault on her.

The woman, now aged 32, said that she woke up to find Devery molesting her. She said: “I didn’t know what to do. I froze for a second. It was like I was in a dream, a bad dream.”

She said she went to the bathroom and was crying but returned to try and waken her boyfriend. She said Devery was still sitting in a chair “as if nothing had happened”.

She said that when she finally roused her boyfriend from sleep Devery ran out the door “because he knew what he had done”.

Advocate depute Richard Goddard earlier told the court that Devery had learning difficulties following a brain injury and was registered disabled.

The court heard that Devery has previous convictions for possessing cannabis and ecstasy linked to attending raves in Scotland.

Defence counsel Dana Forbes said: “There is no indication there was any violence or threats of violence involved in these offences.”

She said Devery was “extremely fearful” of a prison sentence and added: “He has struggled to come to terms with the prospect of a custodial sentence.”

Devery has been held in jail since November 1 after failing to attend his trial. Miss Forbes said that since he has been in custody he has refrained from using ecstasy and heroin. She added that on his release from prison he intended moving to Dundee.

Devery was placed on the sex offenders’ register for an indefinitely.