CRIEFF MAN GUILTY OF BREACH OF PEACE AFTER PUBLIC INDECENCY
Teenagers were “shocked and disgusted” to see Crieff man Michael Saunders topless in his front garden, wearing a multi-coloured balaclava and clutching his genitals as they drove past on March 10 last year.One was so startled she immediately called her mum to warn her not to let her younger sister play in a nearby park.
Saunders, 42, was originally charged by police with intentionally exposing himself.
He asked as he was being arrested: “Is it because I had my penis out in the garden?” After a two-day trial at Perth Sheriff Court he was found guilty of an alternative charge of common law breach of the peace after both witnesses said they could not actually see his penis as it was being covered by his hand.
The first witness, a 19-year-old care worker, said she was a passenger in a car on Murrayfield Loan and saw “a man in his garden holding his genitals”.
She said he was topless, had shorts “up at the hips and down at the front” and was wearing a multi-coloured balaclava.
She said his hand was covering his penis but was “moving” and she called her mother to give the playpark warning.
The witness described another encounter with Saunders a couple of days later when he circled around her on an electronic scooter but left when she started filming him.
The second witness, also 19, said: “Michael Saunders was stood in his front garden.
He had his penis in his hand and he was shaking it.
He had a colourful balaclava thing on.” Asked if there was any chance he was merely “rearranging his underwear or something”, she replied: “No.” She said she felt “disgusted” and told how Saunders’ eyes appeared to follow her car as it travelled along the street.
Sheriff Alison McKay said: “Neither complainer saw the accused’s penis.
“On the other hand, Mr Saunders himself seems to have confirmed to police some of the conduct attributed to him.” She said the specific test to prove the sexual offence allegation had not been met but he was guilty of breach of the peace.
Saunders, who is already on a six-month compulsion order for a previous conviction, was found not guilty of threatening behaviour in relation to the scooter incident and sentence was deferred for six months to be of good behaviour.
