"CONCERNS have been expressed after it emerged a man who was convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl will be released from prison early without attending a rehabilitation programme.
Dalkeith man Robert Moffat, 41, has always maintained his innocence and has refused to enter a sex offenders’ programme in prison.
Following his conviction, the father-of-two appealed, stating the child had based her evidence on scenes screened in the soap opera Brookside. His claim was rejected by a judge.
News of the release was revealed in a petition to the Scottish Parliament in which Moffat also complained of the conditions in prison.
“My time in prison is almost over and I will be released within the next three months,” he wrote from prison in Dumfries.
A prison source confirmed Moffat was expected to be released on parole in the summer after serving only four of his original six-year sentence
It is also understood that Moffat was transferred from the sex offenders’ unit at Peterhead Prison without attending a rehabilitation programme as he constantly maintained his innocence.
The secretary of the Dalkeith and District Community Council, Ann Stewart-Kmitcha, said there would be concerns within the close-knit neighbourhood if he returned to the area.
“I am concerned that we have a lot of people in the community who are quite volatile,” she said.
She added that Moffat’s home area of Woodburn was subject to significant attention from groups attempting to combat [ censored word]ocial behaviour. Kenny MacAskill, SNP shadow justice and home affairs spokesman, said public safety was paramount.
“Obviously, he [Moffat] would have been assessed by the parole board and we have to accept that,” he said.
“Serious sex offenders are few in number but highly dangerous and it is crucial they are properly monitored, not simply put on the sex offenders’ register.
“That means the Scottish Executive must ensure police and social work departments are properly resourced. Public safety demands it.”
Moffat, a delivery driver, was dragged from the dock by police officers after a jury unanimously convicted him in 2001.
During the trial, the jury heard Moffat’s victim had been baby-sitting while her mother went out with friends – including Moffat and his partner.
When they returned with a carry-out, she went to bed.
Thirteen-stone Moffat later pounced on the teenager as she slept in her room.
When the girl reported Moffat to police, she handed officers a cigarette lighter and keys which she said her 6ft 2in attacker had left in her bed.
A spokeswoman for charity Children First said: “It’s obviously crucial that sex offenders are released back into the community only when it is assessed as safe for that to happen – that they are not released only to offend again.
“The Scottish Executive’s recently announced review into the management of sex offenders into the community is welcome.”
At his appeal, Moffat, then of Woodburn Drive, Dalkeith, claimed the girl had fabricated her evidence after seeing the Channel 4 show Brookside, in which a girl was raped twice at a party.
In the programme, a character was attacked after being given the date rape drug Rohypnol. She was raped again by the same man after a short interval.
Moffat claimed that he went to the room to comfort the girl after she had a row with her mother.
https://theukdatabase.com/2012/08/09/robert-moffat-dalkeith-2/
