Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
‘Fantastic Beasts’ Actor Kevin Guthrie Sentenced To 3 Years For Sexually Assaulting Woman
Kevin Guthrie was supposed to be watching the survivor after she fell ill, possibly after drinking a spiked beverage, while his friend Scott Reid called for help, but he sexually assaulted her instead.
Scottish actor Kevin Guthrie has been sentenced to three years behind bars for sexually assaulting a woman under the guise of helping her in 2017.
A jury found Guthrie, 33, guilty of the attack following a four-day trial, the BBC reported Friday. They heard testimony from the survivor, 29, who recounted the September 2017 incident in which she thought Guthrie and his friend, fellow actor Scott Reid, were going to help her after she got sick.
The woman was supposed to meet up with the men at a bar but a taxi driver had called Reid to inform him that the woman was ill. She believed someone had spiked her drink. Reid and Guthrie helped the survivor into Reid’s Glasgow apartment and put her on a bed.
Reid called the telehealth urgent care line for help while Guthrie stayed in the bedroom with the woman to keep an eye on her.
"I remember my top being lifted up and my bra being held down,” she testified to the gury. Guthrie sexually assaulted her multiple times before his friend came into the room, which apparently halted his attack.
Guthrie denied sexually assaulting the woman and instead maintained in court that he was merely helping her. However, Guthrie's DNA was found inside her underwear, according to the BBC.
"What makes matters worse is that you committed this crime when you were in a position of trust,” Sheriff Tom Hughes, the equivalent of a United States judge, told Guthrie, according to the Judiciary of Scotland. "Your victim was in distress and quite unwell at the relevant time. She believed that her drink had been spiked when she had been elsewhere, earlier that night. The other male in the house was on the phone seeking medical assistance for her. You were left in the room with her, supposedly looking after her when she was not able to look after herself. There you committed this heinous crime.”
Hughes also noted that the woman testified with "dignity."
"It is clear that it must be extremely distressing to have to undergo intimate physical examination and then come to court and give evidence of a highly personal nature before a jury," he said, adding that "the courts must send out a clear message that women should be protected from sexual and domestic offenses and anyone convicted of such matters should expect to suffer serious consequences."
In addition to three years behind bars, Guthrie has been placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
He starred in “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” in 2016 and its sequel “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” two years later. He has not publicly commented on the sentencing.
