Caithness businessman to be sentenced over rapes

A Caithness businessman will be sentenced at the High Court in Aberdeen next month after being convicted of twice raping a woman in Thurso and Nethybridge.

Charles Sutherland, of Sandside House, Reay, was also found unanimously guilty on August 26 this year by a jury at the High Court in Inverness of two charges involving a girl by having unlawful intercourse with her while she was under the age of 16 and then indecently assaulting her.

The jury returned a majority verdict on a third charge of rape, all when 36-year-old Sutherland was a teenager between 2005 and 2007.

The jury found Sutherland unanimously guilty on one rape of his second victim and by a majority on the other.

Sutherland, who owns his own construction company, had sentence deferred for a background report until October 4 and was remanded in custody.