CYCLIST, SEXUALLY ASSAULTED SCHOOLGIRL
A young girl was chased by a cyclist and sexually assaulted during the daytime at a crowded scenic spot in Moray.Benjamin Mearns, who is 40 years old, seized the 14-year-old girl and exposed her chest near the River Spey in the town of Fochabers.
The incident happened after the girl and her friends had been swimming at the river and were making their way home.
At Inverness Sheriff Court, it was revealed that Mearns first approached a group of two girls and three boys as they headed toward the Pinni section of the river on July 24 of the previous year.
Prosecutor David Barclay told the court that Mearns offered the two girls, both aged 14, a sum of £20 to take pictures of themselves in their bathing outfits.
“They repeatedly said no, were frightened and scared and ran away.
He cycled out of view,” Mr Barclay said.
At around 6.30pm, when the girls had finished swimming and were heading home, Mearns reappeared on the scene, causing one of them to run away.
Mr Barclay said: “But she tripped and fell.
As she was about to get up, his hands were on her shoulders, he pushed her back down and pulled up her bra, exposing her breasts.
“She was screaming and kicking out.
Her friends heard her and two of the boys struck him to get him to leave.
The prosecutor said that police were called and with the help of CCTV footage from local businesses, Mearns was traced and arrested a week later.
The court heard that Mearns’ late plea of guilty to sexual assault and breach of the peace was made on the day of the trial, “sparing the five child witnesses of reliving this”.
Defence solicitor Matthew O’Neill told Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald: “This was a moment of madness in a place which was very busy at the time on a warm summer’s evening.
“He has never come to the attention of the police before.” Sentence was deferred until August 15 for a background report and assessments for a sex offender’s programme and a restriction of liberty order.
Mearns, of Stewart Place, Mosstodloch was placed on the Sex Offender’s Register and his bail was continued.
