A rapist whose 12-year-old victim had a baby as a result has been jailed.
Balwinder Singh, 54, fled the country after he assaulted the girl at a house in Edinburgh in the summer of 2016.
The girl later complained of stomach pains and in December her mother took her to see a doctor, who confirmed she was pregnant. The pregnancy could not be terminated due to its late stage.
Singh was detained in Canada and pled guilty to raping the girl after he was brought back to Scotland.
He was jailed for five years and four months.
‘Very considerable distress’
Judge Lady Scott said it appeared from a background report prepared on Singh that on occasion he blamed the girl for his conduct.
She said the rape of a child was always very serious and that Singh would have faced an eight-year sentence had he been convicted after trial.
She added: “There is no suggestion of grooming and, in addition, I take into account that you have pled guilty at an early stage and that you have no prior sexual offending and no relevant record.”
It was determined the date of conception – that is the time the girl was raped – was around mid June, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.
It was also heard the girl went into labour early.
Lady Scott said the experience caused the girl “very considerable distress”.
Detained for ‘shoplifting’
Police obtained the baby’s DNA profile and later matched this with Singh’s when he was brought to the UK.
Singh was found to have left for Hong Kong before going on to Canada.
Canadian authorities told the Crown in January this year that Singh was in custody over an alleged shoplifting offence.
He was deported and arrested on arrival at Heathrow airport in London.
Defence counsel Kenneth Cloggie said there was no violence or use of alcohol or drugs in Singh’s sex crime.
Singh earlier admitted that on one occasion between 1 June and 31 July 2016 he raped the girl and caused her to become pregnant resulting in the birth of a child.
He was put on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-54282983