A victim of one of Scotland’s most brutal rapists and domestic abusers has hit out over his early release from prison and says he is still a danger.
James Keaney, now 45, was jailed for 12 years in 2013 but has been released at the two-thirds point of his sentence and remains under licence for the rest of the term.
One of his victims, a 40-year-old mum of three, from Glasgow, warned other women to have nothing to do with the beast who beat her and raped her repeatedly for years.
The victim, who wants to be known as Grace, said: “He had to be locked up to keep other women safe and I felt I had to do my bit or I’d regret it.
“That’s why I’m speaking up now. I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did. I just pray he doesn’t find a woman who doesn’t know about his past, or one who think she can change him.
“Single mothers have to be especially careful as he terrorised my kids. The guy is a monster and will not change. I will do all I can to keep myself and my family safe but I want everyone to be safe from James Keaney.
“Prison was the best place for him. Women were safer when he was locked up.”
When Judge Norman Ritchie QC jailed Keaney he also sentenced him to a period of supervision in the community for four years after his release.
Any breach would see Keaney returned to jail for the rest of the 12 years but his victim believes that although he has that hanging over him, he cannot be trusted.
Keaney was convicted and jailed for repeatedly raping and battering Grace and another woman. Both said he was capable of being charming but that he had become increasingly controlling and violent.
Grace recalled: “We used to go out and have fun but it changed gradually after I fell pregnant to him.
“I thought he loved kids but he just wanted me pregnant to have greater control of me. He wasn’t keen on me seeing friends or seeing much of my family, so he isolated me.
“The real change came one night when I was well into my pregnancy. I woke up to find him touching me. He wanted sex. I said, ‘No, I’ve had a bad day. I’m exhausted.’
“He said: ‘Don’t be daft. A man has his needs, and I need you now.’ There was an edge in his voice I didn’t recognise. He was bending my feet back and it felt as though he’d snap my ankles. Then he did it to my hands.
“I begged him to stop as I was scared we’d wake my kids. But he carried on. I was stunned. I was pregnant with his child and he was raping me.
“From that day on, my life changed. He’d taken off his mask and he didn’t bother to pretend any more.” Grace remembers being badly beaten many times by Keaney, even in front of her traumatised son.
She said: “I was young and felt trapped. I wanted to leave but he told me he’d always find me and hurt me. I was locked in the flat, beaten regularly and must have been raped 100 times.
“My biggest regret was failing to get away for the sake of the kids. I did try to get away. He always found me and came to take me back.
“I found out years later that he had set the security code on my phone so that he could dial in and listen to my messages. So I’d be hauled back, defeated and feeling hopeless.”
Grace finally managed to break free and moved on but in 2013 police knocked on her door and said allegations had been made by other women.
Grace said: “I realised that if none of us stood up to him, he’d just go on like this forever.” Keaney was tried over his brutality towards Grace and another woman.
Grace has gone to her local police station to make them aware he might want revenge.
DS Gillian Faulds said: “Police Scotland does issue specialist personal alarms as part of considering and implementing a wide range of safety planning options based on a thorough risk assessment of each case."
The level of protection to be offered to Grace has not yet been decided.
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