Craig Strachan was accused of climbing into his victim’s bed and raping her at a basement flat in Edinburgh in 2013, when he was 21.
The now 33-year-old, who used the stage name ‘Craig Saint’, was today convicted by a jury at the High Court in Livingston and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.
Despite pleading not guilty to the crime in July, Strachan previously admitted he ‘totally f***** up and raped a girl’ when he was on drugs in a resurfaced Youtube video posted in 2022.
He went on to tell the ‘I’mpossible Conversation’ YouTube channel during an interview: ‘When I had my spiritual awakening last year it was so so scary because I was reminded of something that happened when I was 21, when I was really high and totally f****d up, I raped a girl.
‘I had sex with her when she was sleeping. It lasted about 10 seconds. She was in my bed and as soon as it happened, I instantly knew, “s***, I should not have done that”.’
The trial heard Strachan was 21 when he climbed into his victim’s bed uninvited and touched her while she slept, prosecutors said. When she woke, Strachan raped her.
He claimed he thought she had in fact been awake and consenting. Jurors took less than an hour to find him guilty.
He was convicted of entering a bed uninvited with the woman, touching her on the body, and raping her both while she was asleep and incapable of giving or withholding consent and after she awoke.
The verdict was unanimous.
Imposing the six-year sentence at the High Court in Stirling, Judge Fiona Tait told Strachan, who appeared by video link from Saughton Prison, Edinburgh, that the offence was one of ‘considerable gravity’, resulting in a substantial impact on his victim.
She added: ‘She should be commended for her courage in giving evidence – especially in the difficult circumstances of the publicity which your online disclosure attracted.’
