PERTHSHIRE BOSS AVOIDS SEX REGISTER AFTER LEWD REMARKS LEFT WOMAN ‘PHYSICALLY SICK’
A Perthshire company boss, Stephen Saint, narrowly avoided being placed on the Sex Offenders Register after he made a series of vile comments to a woman working on his car.Saint, who is 50 years old, head of a team of electricians in Pitlochry, Wept in court during the reading of his obscene remarks.
He made suggestive comments about the woman bending over his vehicle, including offering to perform a sex act on her and saying, “You would love it.” Additionally, Saint handed her a £170 bag of cocaine, instructing her to hide it from his parents.
The woman later told police she felt “physically sick, disgusted and violated.” Saint admitted to behavior that involved threatening or abusing her, causing her fear and alarm, at a property on St Colm Place—the address of his business, S Saint Electrical Ltd—on June 26 last year.
He further admitted being involved in the supply of a class A drug, with the police seizing about 1.7g of cocaine from the scene.
During the trial, Saint's solicitor stated that Saint was under the influence of drink and drugs at the time due to a humiliating revenge attack by his father-in-law.
The court heard Saint had been the victim of a serious assault in January 2020, which left him suffering from PTSD and panic attacks.
Despite the explicit sexual nature of his remarks, Sheriff Gillian Wade decided not to place him on the Sex Offenders Register, ruling that his comments did not indicate underlying deviance and that he posed a low risk to the public.
Saint was sentenced to carry out 270 hours of unpaid work, placed on supervision for two years, and warned that the sentence was an alternative to custody.
