Man raped woman he lured from Latvia for nanny job

A MAN who lured a woman to Scotland with the offer of a job then raped her in a lay-by after picking her up at the airport has been warned he faces a lengthy jail term.

Indulus Lukstins attacked the 21-year-old Latvian woman at the side of the A9 south of Inverness in January.

Lukstins (50) a prisoner at HMP Inverness, who previously lived in St Ninian’s Road, Nairn, denied raping the woman in an A9 lay-by and stealing her laptop, charger and bag at Inverness Business and Retail Park.

However, the jury of nine women and six men took two to find Lukstins guilty of both charges after a six day trial.

The woman told the High Court in Dundee how she had looked for work in the UK - planning to take a job while continuing to study psychology.

She told how she spotted an advert for a nanny to a Russian family based in Glasgow on a Latvian jobs website.

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said she sent off a CV and pictures to the advertiser - and was told a few days later she had been given the job.

When she arrived at Prestwick Airport on 15th January she was picked up by Lukstins who took her to his car, where he put an address in Inverness into his sat nav.

The woman said she became concerned when she realised the journey would take four hours.

She said they drove for two hours before stopping in a lay-by - only driving off again after sitting for several hours.

They then stopped again around an hour later in another lay-by with the woman describing the horror attack carried out by Lukstins.

He held a knife to her neck before forcing her to strip and perform a sex act on him.

She told how she was then driven on to a Tesco superstore in Inverness where she alerted a security guard to the attack and called police.

She added: "I was shaking - I was in tears."

Lukstins is the first man to be convicted under the new Sexual Offences Scotland Act - which made classified forced oral sex as rape for the first time.

He had lodged a special defence stating that any sexual activity was consensual.

Defence advocate Shahid Latif said he would give his plea in mitigation for Lukstins at a later sentencing date.

Judge Lady Clark of Calton placed Lukstins on the sex offenders register and remanded him in custody.

He will be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on October 21.

She said: "I will require a social work report including a risk assessment so I can consider the possibility of an extended sentence.

"You will be placed on the sex offenders register from today’s date."