Rapist builder has sentence doubled by appeal court

A builder who raped a woman in the Scottish Borders, while her young son was in the house, has had his sentenced doubled by an appeal court.

Tomasz Jasinski, 33, attacked the woman in her home in Berwickshire in June 2021.

In April he pled guilty and was jailed for four and a half years, a sentence the Crown called "unduly lenient".

The Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh has now increased his jail sentence to eight and a half years.

Lord Justice Clerk, Lady Dorrian, who heard the Crown appeal with Lord Matthews and Lady Wise, will give full reasons for the decision at a later date.

Jasinski had been staying at a bed and breakfast with some fellow Polish nationals who were working on a building site.

'Shocked and petrified'

On the day of the rape he had been drinking vodka before going into the woman's home. She was in bed when Jasinski began the attack.

A court previously heard the woman was "shocked and petrified" and was afraid of what he would do and pretended to be asleep.

The court heard she tried to move away from her attacker and told him "no" but had been unable to stop him.

During his original sentencing, Judge Lady Haldane told Jasinski: "Whilst it is to your credit that you have accepted responsibility for this offence and that you have shown remorse you have not been able to offer any explanation for why you did such a thing at all."

Lady Haldane said the sentence had been reduced due to his guilty plea which had spared the victim having to testify.

Jasinski was also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.