An offshore worker has been found guilty of molesting a 14-year-old girl as she slept in her bed.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard Darren Rutherford crept into the teenager’s bedroom and sexually assaulted her in the early hours of the morning.
Rutherford, 44, pleaded not guilty to the allegation but was convicted after a jury heard there was DNA evidence that backed up his victim’s claims.
The court was told the sickening attack has “changed how the victim lives her life”.
A jury took just over an hour to find Rutherford unanimously guilty of one charge of sexual assault, which included penetrative sexual assault, at an address in Aberdeen.
Victim was ‘hysterical’ as she told mum what Darren Rutherford had done
Following the verdict, Sheriff Andrew Miller warned the oil and gas worker that he should be in “absolutely no doubt about the grave nature” of his conviction.
He told Rutherford the jury had convicted him of “an extremely serious charge,” adding that “all sentencing options” would be considered.
During the trial, jurors heard from the girl’s mother who said in the days leading up to the assault, Rutherford had been acting “strange” since he had come back from working offshore.
She said that for around three of four days he had seemed “short-tempered and erratic”.
On June 27 2022, the 14-year-old’s mum was driving her in the car when she noticed something was wrong and questioned her daughter about it.
The girl initially refused to reveal what was bothering her but eventually told her mother that Rutherford had entered her bedroom during the night and “placed his fingers between her legs”.
The woman said that upon divulging what had occurred, her daughter became “hysterical”.
DNA profile found
Forensic scientist Sarah Walker said a DNA sample was taken from the girl’s private parts.
A sample of Rutherford’s fingernails from his left and right hand were also examined, the court was told.
Mrs Walker said Rutherford’s DNA profile was found in the sample taken from the girl.
A subsequent report submitted to the Crown Office concluded that, in the opinion of examiners, these findings could be explained if Darren Rutherford “inserted his finger” into the girl’s private parts.
Outside court, a family member of the teenage victim told the P&J: “We’re happy with the verdict, but she has had to go through a lot.
“She suffers from anxiety now and can’t walk up the street – it’ll take her years to get over this.”
During her final speech, fiscal depute Jane Spark echoed that statement when she told the jury that the incident had “changed how the victim lives her life”.
“[She] is a 14-year-old girl who went to bed in the safety of her own bed within her own bedroom – or so she thought.”
Ms Spark added that the girl then “woke up in the early hours of the morning to find Darren Rutherford sexually assaulting her”.
Sheriff Miller deferred sentence on Rutherford, of Laws Road, Aberdeen, until March 4 this year in order for a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment to be carried out.
The sheriff also made Rutherford subject to the sex offenders register.
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