TEENAGER GIVEN ONE-YEAR SEX OFFENDERS’ REGISTER FOR KISSING 12-YEAR-OLD GIRLS
A teenager who kissed 12-year-old girls after plying them with strong drink has been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register.Declan McMaster, 18, was also banned from contacting or approaching any females aged under 16, handed supervision under the social work department, and fined £250 for the offences.
McMaster, of the town’s Rotherwood Avenue, had kissed the youngsters after striking up a conversation with them on the streets of Linwood.
The youngsters, who can’t be named for legal reasons, asked him to buy drink for them and he bought three cans of eight per cent Dragon Soop, twice the strength of lager.
However, he decided to spend time with the children and a few of their friends, where he ended up making advances to two of the youngsters by kissing them on November 26, last year.
He had been lurking in Clippens Road when he came across the girls by chance.
At Paisley Sheriff Court yesterday he appeared in the dock for sentencing after pleading guilty to charges of buying alcohol on behalf of youngsters, sexually assaulting one of the girls by repeatedly kissing her on the mouth, and sexually assaulting the other girl by kissing her on the mouth.
The court had sought background reports from the Pathways Project, which works with sex offenders, and social workers in preparation for handing him his punishment.
Sheriff Colin Pettigrew concurred with the laywer but told McMaster he would be placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for one year while he underwent supervision.
He said: “You will benefit from supervision under the social work department as well as alcohol counselling and as a strict condition, you will be prohibited from direct contact or interaction with female children aged 16 and under other than inadvertent contact in the course of everyday life.” The accused was told the order, which lasts for one year, was handed to him as an alternative to custody.
