A 31-year-old trans woman raped two women while she was a man, a Scottish court has found. The case caused great controversy in the past because the perpetrator was initially in custody in a women's prison. Even the Scottish head of government announced her resignation.
A trans woman who raped two women before her gender reassignment has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Since there is a great risk that the convicted person will then become criminal again, she should then be kept under observation for a further three years, said the competent judge at the High Court in Edinburgh.
The 31-year-old, who raped a woman in 2016 and 2019, vehemently denied all allegations and claimed to the end that the sex was consensual. Gender reassignment occurred after the crimes were committed. "They see themselves as victims in this situation, but they are not," the judge told the convict. "Your own vulnerability is no excuse for what you did to these two women."
Trans people or transgender people are people who do not feel they belong to the gender they were assigned at birth. The case had made waves in Scotland and beyond because the trans woman was initially held in a women's prison during her pre-trial detention despite rape allegations. After an official government investigation, she was transferred to the men's section of another prison.
The outgoing Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon was at times criticized for her handling of the case because she did not want to be clear in interviews about how to deal with trans people in similar cases. Ultimately, she even announced her resignation.
