Man who raped doctor in city centre alleyway and flashed woman on train jailed

A ‘depraved’ man who raped a doctor for 40 minutes in a back alleyway doorway in Glasgow has been jailed for nine years.

Mihai-Nicolae Patran, 34, assaulted the then 27-year-old stranger as she took a shortcut through Mitchell Street.

The victim escaped naked from the waist down into a taxi after the attack in the early hours of November 26, 2023.

Patran was later arrested and performed a sex act on himself while sitting in the dock during his first court appearance.

He was convicted of the rape last month and was sentenced today to nine years behind bars and a further three years of supervision upon release.

Judge N McFadyen said that Patran poses a ‘real danger to women’ when he sentenced him at Glasgow High Court earlier today.

He said: [The victim] took a shortcut through the alleyway where you were intending to bed down in a doorway and she had the misfortune to encounter you there.

‘We know from the CCTV and mobile phone which captured a little of what happened and the length of the episode that she was subjected in that doorway to a protracted, demeaning and squalid rape over 40 minutes.’

The judge added: ‘You are clearly a dangerous man and, in particular, a real danger to women.’

The doctor told the court last month that she was meeting up with friends when she decided to head to Taco Bell and cut through Mitchell Street.

‘I think I would describe it as complete disassociation,’ she said of the rape.

‘I was just so scared. I think I kind of mentally froze.’

Over just five weeks, Patran carried out three sexual offences involving women strangers in 2023, all of which he was found guilty of.

He was found guilty of flashing a woman on a train between Perth and Stirling in October 2023.

Patran was further accused of asking another woman for sex for money as well as sexually assaulting a court custody officer.

The Romanian continues to insist he is innocent, his lawyer, Donald Findlay KC, told the court.

‘What Mr Patran’s long-term plans are I do not know. It seems he would prefer to return to his home country at some point in time,’ Mr Findlay said.

Faye Cook, Procurator Fiscal for High Court Sexual Offences, said: ‘The prosecution identified and drew together multiple strands of evidence, including CCTV footage, which supported the harrowing accounts given by all three victims.r

‘This conviction would not have been possible without these women, and I hope it brings some comfort that Patran has now been held accountable.

‘This type of stranger offending, while rare, will not be tolerated and Scotland’s prosecutors will continue to fully support those affected as we seek to secure justice.’

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