A Lithuanian national living and working in Moray who was found guilty of raping a teenage girl at his New Elgin home has been jailed for eight years.
Vytautas Melinauskas had attempted to blame his 13-year-old victim for the attack but a jury rejected his claims. He was also found guilty of committing a sex act on a second teenager.
Melinauskas appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday where judge Lord Burns told him that it was clear the rape had affected his victim very badly.
At his trial jurors were told how the 43-year-old had purchased alcohol at a local shop and then invited the 13 and 15-year-old girls back to his home.
Passing sentence Lord Burns said: “You proceeded to rape one girl and engage in sexual activity with the other knowing both of them were very drunk and knowing their ages.
“It must be quite clear to you that they were quite incapable of making any decision, yet you maintained, and still maintain, that they were the instigators of these events.”
Melinauskas will be deported at the end of his prison sentence but remain on the sex offenders list for life.
The Lithuanian had been living and working in Scotland for some years before the offences happened in September 2012. Melinauskas’ advocate, Bill Adam, told the court: “He is genuinely sorry for the girls and the distress he has caused.
“He knows he was the adult, they were the children. He should have known better as far as the alcohol and everything else which followed was concerned.”