A TEENAGER who raped three schoolgirls in woods and parkland - telling one of them "it's meant to hurt" - wept as he was remanded in custody.
Liam Hughes, now 18, was aged only 15 and 16 when he raped his victims in a series of incidents in the Falkirk and Grangemouth areas of Stirlingshire over a period of 18 months.
Two of his victims were also 15 -- the other still only 14.
A fourth girl, also aged 15, was sexually assaulted by Hughes.
The High Court in Stirling heard Hughes "forced himself" on his youngest rape victim in Zetland Park in Grangemouth in October 2020, then in May the next year he raped one of the 15 year olds in woods in the town.
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The court heard the woodland rape, near Primrose Avenue, Grangemouth, had begun as consensual sex, but the girl had begged Hughes to stop because there was a rock or stone beneath her.
She said that he ignored her, however, and carried on, telling her, "It's meant to hurt."
A month later the same girl woke up at a party in Hallglen, Falkirk, to find her underwear had been pulled down and Hughes'd had sex with her while she was asleep.
He went on to rape her orally as well.
She went to the police within days.
Hughes was quickly arrested and appeared on petition at Falkirk Sheriff Court but was released on bail.
Nine months later, in March last year, he went on to rape a 15-year-old girl -- whom he'd never met before -- in woods near a primary school in Grangemouth.
The girl gave the court what prosecutor Ali Murray described as "a graphic account of what happened to her".
She said she was raped, there was "a lot of blood", and she was "in a lot of pain".
Hughes, an electrician, of Castleton Crescent, Grangemouth, who denied the offences, said the girls had "got together and made up stories" against him.
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He said: "They can say it, but I've never done any of it."
After six days of evidence, a jury of eight men and seven women deliberated for almost two full days before finding Hughes guilty of raping the three girls -- one of them twice -- and sexually assaulting the fourth girl.
Charges that he raped two more girls, one aged 14, the other the day after her 16th birthday, were found not proven, and he was found not guilty of sexually assaulting a sixth girl, a 14-year-old.
He wept, sobbed and shook as the verdicts were recorded and had to be handed a wastepaper bucket in the dock after dry-retching and saying he was about to vomit.
All the verdicts were by majority.
On the public benches, his mother also sobbed.
Judge Lord Young remanded him in custody for background reports.
He told him: "You've been convicted by the jury of charges of rape and sexual assault.
"I'm not going to grant bail -- the offences are too serious for that."
He was placed on the sex offenders' register and will be sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on November 21.
Edward Targowski KC, defending, reserved mitigation.
Mr Targowski said: "He does live with his parents and I think the court will require a medical report, obtained probably by the defence."
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