Caithness businessman jailed over rapes in Thurso and Nethybridge
A Caithness businessman has been jailed at the High Court in Aberdeen after being found guilty of rape.
Charles Sutherland, of Sandside House, Reay, was sentenced to 11 years, backdated to August 26, on a series of charges, including having unlawful intercourse with a girl under 16.
He was convicted last month of twice raping a woman in Thurso and Nethybridge.
He was also found unanimously guilty by a jury at the High Court in Inverness of two charges involving a different 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 involving the girl, 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, was also placed on the sex offenders’ register and had a non-harassment order imposed for an indefinite period.