Fantastic Beasts ' Kevin Guthrie Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for Sexual Assault

Kevin Guthrie, who starred in the Fantastic Beasts film franchise, has been sentenced to three years in jail for sexually assaulting a woman.

The 33-year-old Scottish actor, who played Abernathy in the two Harry Potter prequels, was found guilty after a four-day trial and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely, BBC News recently reported. The outlet said he had denied the charge and told the jury he had only "helped" the woman, 29, after she fell ill. Guthrie has not commented on his sentence.

The court was told the incident took place in 2017 at the apartment of fellow Scottish actor Scott Reid, who was not charged. According to BBC News, the victim became sick on the way to meeting both actors at a Glasgow bar. The outlet said Reid received a call from a taxi driver to pick her up and that when she arrived in the cab, Reid and Guthrie helped her into his home and put her on a bed.

The jury was told that Reid called Scotland's telehealth urgent care line and left Guthrie in the room "to make sure she was OK," BBC News reported. The woman testified during the trial that Guthrie sexually assaulted her. He stopped when Reid returned to the room, the court was told.

Tom Hughes, the sheriff of the court, who acts as a judge, told Guthrie at his sentencing on Friday, May 14, "What makes matters worse is that you committed this crime when you were in a position of trust. 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."

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He continued, "In all these circumstances the only appropriate sentence in your case, is one of imprisonment. Taking every relevant circumstance into account, it is appropriate that you shall go to prison for a period of 3 years."

The court's sheriff said at the sentencing that the jury "sifted through all of the medical evidence, photographs of bruising on the complainer, the DNA evidence, the scientific evidence introduced by the defense and all of the circumstantial evidence implicating you in this offense."

"Most significantly, the jury had to consider your own evidence as against the evidence of your victim," he continued, speaking to Guthrie, "and the jury chose to accept her evidence and taking that into account, with all of the other available evidence, they found that the charge has been proved against you beyond reasonable doubt."

For free, confidential help, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or visit rainn.org.