Edinburgh teen 'ruined' blind woman's life with horrific rape attack

A court has heard how an Edinburgh teen 'ruined' a blind woman's life after subjecting her to a horrific rape attack when she asked him for help to get a taxi.

Mikey Hoc, 19, carried out the brutal sex attack on the mother in Edinburgh just weeks after a court had freed him on bail following another rape charge.

Months before the rape of the woman he had attacked two students at a college in the Lothian area and raped one of them. The other student pulled him off her friend during the sex assault.

A relative of one of the student victims later contacted Hoc and in a pretence told him that if he paid pounds 3000 in instalments the rape would not be reported to police.

The woman told the High Court in Edinburgh: "I knew that if he gives me the money, or even if he thinks about giving me the money, then  100 per cent he did it."

Jurors were shown a bank transaction in which Hoc paid her pounds 100 with the words in Polish "for silliness" added. The money was transferred back days later.

A teenager also came forward to claim that Hoc raped her at a church graveyard in Edinburgh city centre when she was a school girl.

During Hoc's trial he denied raping his three accusers and claimed sex was consensual but was yesterday (Fri) found guilty of raping them and physically attacking a fourth woman. 

The blind woman, aged 49, told the court year she had travelled to the home of an acquaintance in a block of flats in Craigour Green, in Edinburgh, in May last year but lost her footing and fell after leaving.

She was approached by two men and said one of the men told her his name was John. She said: "I asked them to help me get a taxi."

The woman they walked for about 10 minutes until they arrived at what she thought was a bus stop. "There wasn't much room. When I tried to get past him that's when it all started," she said.

Hoc told her he was going to "bend her over" before he pulled down her trousers and began to sexually assault her.

She said: "There was no room at all for me to move. I was pressed up against the glass and the tin."

"I asked him to stop 'please stop, please stop'. I couldn't fight him anymore, he was too strong," she told advocate depute Liam Ewing.

Once Hoc had left, she screamed for help before a woman came to her aid.

The woman said: "I wanted to go home and forget about it, but I couldn't. He has ruined my life. He is evil, evil. He needs to get locked away."

He committed the offence after he was freed on bail at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on March 22 last year after being charged with assaulting one of the students and raping the other.

Hoc had struck before and a teenager came forward and told police that he raped her at the graveyard of St Cuthbert's Church, at Lothian Road, in Edinburgh, in November 2016 when she 15.

She said she used to hang out with other youngsters at Princes Mall, off Princes Street, and met Hoc who she said was Polish, but spoke good English. She said at first she thought he was "a bit of an alky" as he was always drinking.

She said on the night of the attack she walked a drunk friend to a bus stop and met Hoc. Hoc told her she was staying with him and he could do what he wanted.

He grabbed her arm and dragged her down to a wall at the graveyard and began molesting her before raping her. She said: "It was really sore. I started tearing up and crying. I had said 'no' so many times." 

Hoc struck again on March 9 last year when he attacked two student friends after turning up at their college with a bottle of Jack Daniels.

During the attack on her he grabbed her and dragged her onto a bed and covered her mouth with his hand.

She said Hoc had earlier become aggressive with her friend and pushed her down, winding her. He later held a knife to the friend's throat.

The woman who was subjected to a physical attack said: "Before that night I did not think he was capable of hurting anyone. After that night I did not recognise him."

The judge, Lord Kinclaven, deferred sentence on Hoc for the preparation of a background report and a risk assessment. Hoc was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing next month and put on the sex offenders' register. 

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