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Convicted torturer works as nightclub bouncer
A VICIOUS torturer is working as a licensed bouncer in Scotland.
Bodybuilder Rusmir Rakovac, who calls himself the "Mad Bosnian", took part in a horrific attack on a teenager.
The bound and gagged victim was shot repeatedly with an air pistol, threatened with a knife, stripped and thrown into a cold shower.
Rakovac, 28, has also been accused of battering his wife and has a long history of trouble with the police.
But the Government's Security Industry Authority still gave him a bouncer's licence. He works as a doorman at Glasgow's Sea nightclub.
Rakovac has also worked as a bus driver - and even as a courier delivering papers for Scotland's Crown prosecutors.
Police revealed his record of thuggery last week at a meeting where he was refused a licence to become a taxi driver.
And members of Glasgow's licensing committee were amazed to hear he had been allowed to work as a bouncer.
Committee chairman Councillor John McKenzie said: "Obviously the SIA's checks are a damn sight more relaxed than ours."
A police source added: "It seems unbelievable that this guy can be knocked back for a taxi licence, yet the SIA say, 'On you go'."
Rakovac fled to Scotland in 1996 during the war in his native Bosnia. But by 2000, he had been arrested or detained TWELVE times for alleged crimes including assault, robbery and theft.
He was convicted four times - twice for assault and twice for breach of the peace.
In 1998, Rakovac and two other men tortured a 19-year-old youth at a hostel in Bower Street in Glasgow's west end after accusing him of stealing some bread.
Chief Inspector Stuart Neill of Strathclyde Police told the taxi licensing meeting: "The resident was bound and tied up, threatened and shot with an air pistol.
"A knife was held to his throat, his hand was cut, he was marched to a shower and forced to strip and then cold water was turned on.
"The air pistol was then placed inside his underwear and an attempt was made to discharge the weapon."
Rakovac, who had previous convictions for violence, was convicted of assault. But a sheriff gave him probation and community service after hearing he had been traumatised by the Bosnian war.
Co-accused Steven Hamilton, 19, was locked up for two and a half years.
Rakovac married Dawn Gibson in 1999 and they had two children.
But in 2001, Dawn told police that Rakovac had punched and slapped her and thrown her to the floor.
Dawn said her husband regularly attacked her and blamed his violence on his war stress. Police didn't act on her claims because they could not be proved.
In 2005, after Dawn left Rakovac, he was accused of kicking his way into their former home. Again, the case was dropped for lack of evidence.
Rakovac was reported to prosecutors in 2006 for allegedly threatening Dawn after she gave evidence against him in a court case, but the fiscal took no action.
In 2007, Rakovac was again reported to the fiscal, this time over claims that he had threatened one of Dawn's friends to try to make him reveal where she was. The case did not get to court.
Rakovac's other brushes with the law included one in 1997 when he was arrested after allegedly threatening to stab a man who spotted him breaking into a car.
In 2005, charges that he grabbed a man by the throat and kicked him in the shin were dropped.
And that same year, when Rakovac was working as a bus driver, prosecutors decided not to proceed with a case where he was accused of arguing with a police officer who asked him to move his bus.
Rakovac tried to use his bouncer's licence to convince the taxi committee to approve him. But after hearing Mr Neill's lengthy report, councillors had no doubt he was unfit to be a licensed driver.
McKenzie said: "With a case like this, we had no doubt."
It's understood Rakovac got a licence as a bouncer because the SIA only check for convictions earned in the last five years.
The SIA began vetting potential bouncers in 2007. They use Government agency Disclosure Scotland to carry out checks.
But they only ask for "standard" checks, and an "enhanced" check would have been needed to expose Rakovac.
The Record's police source said: "The SIA checks are supposedly strict but they don't go into the detail that the police do when people apply to local councils for licences.
"The SIA is meant to be building a tough reputation but cases like this could understandably weaken public confidence."
The SIA refused to comment on individual cases but insisted their checking systems were robust.
Rakovac, of Drumchapel, Glasgow, calls himself "Mad Bosnian" on the Bebo friendship website.
But when the Record confronted him, he insisted his violent days were behind him.
He told us: "I do admit the assaults and two breaches of the peace. The rest I do not.
"They've not been taken to the court so I'm not guilty. I was a young boy, I was stupid.
"I was drinking at the time and it was a long time ago. I'm absolutely fine now. There's no problem. I've been doing doors for 10 years.
"I work at Sea every weekend. There are two of us in charge of the other guys on the door. It's a job where lots of people try to make you angry but you have to respect the law and use the minimum force."
No one from the club was available for comment last night.
Rakovac used to work as a driver for First in Glasgow. And in recent months, he took a job as a courier shuttling documents between prosecutors and police.
AXL couriers, the firm he worked for, said he did shifts on a "self-employed" basis and his background was checked
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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin
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