A north-east pensioner who carried out vile sex assaults on girls during the 1970s and 80s has avoided going to prison.
Louis Whyte was found guilty after a trial of a series of historic sex offences, including exposing himself to a young girl.
The 74-year-old was also convicted at Aberdeen Sheriff Court of sexually touching a 13-year-old through her clothing and trying to kiss a second teenage girl.
He carried out further “particularly nasty” violent assaults too, such as punching a pregnant woman in the body.
His solicitor told the court that any recollection of the assaults was “lost in an alcohol haze”.
Despite being found guilty of a number of sexual offences, the pensioner was handed a high-tariff community order instead of a prison sentence.
Punched pregnant woman
Fiscal depute Rebecca Thompson told the court that a jury found Whyte had carried out sexual offences on three girls girl between October 1979 and April 1994.
He was found guilty of repeatedly handling one teenager’s breasts through her clothing “to her injury” at an address in Peterhead.
Whyte also touched the girl on her private parts through her clothing.
In another incident involving a different 13-year-old girl, Whyte was convicted of indecent practices by attempting to kiss the girl and uttering sexual remarks to her.
The pensioner also faced sentencing on a number of assault charges, including pulling the girl from a bed and biting her on the body.
It was stated that he punched the same victim on the body at an address in Fraserburgh while she was pregnant.
On another occasion, Whyte grabbed a young woman by the hair when she was around 14 years old, threw her onto a bed and repeatedly struck her on the head.
He additionally grabbed her hair and struck her head on a wall.
A child as young as five was also involved, with Whyte following her into the bathroom “uninvited” whilst the child was naked and exposed himself to her.
He was also convicted of urinating in front of her, uttering sexual remarks to her and getting into her bed and pressing his body up against hers.
‘These are serious offences’
Whyte’s defence advocate, Simon Gilbride, told the court that his client did not accept his guilt and had told social workers he “felt sick” when thinking about such sexual accusations.
Mr Gilbride described the situation at the time of these offences as “toxic” with “a lot of drink” being consumed.
“The reality of what happened and what Mr Whyte can remember may have been lost in an alcohol haze,” he said.
“These offences occurred quite some time ago and I would suggest that there is a viable alternative to a prison sentence.
“Mr Whyte is aware of the seriousness of these charges, but he would ask that his [poor] health and age are taken into consideration when deciding on a sentence.”
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin told Whyte: “These are serious offences, sexual offences and violent offences are serious.
“However, the sexual offences were not invasive in the sense that they were over clothing and were sexual remarks.
“The violence was particularly nasty, however. Given the length of time since these offences were committed and the lack of offending since I believe I can deal with this by imposing a high tariff community-based order.”
As a direct alternative to a prison sentence, Sheriff McLaughlin made Whyte subject to a community payback order with supervision for two years and ordered him to take part in a sex offenders programme.
She also put a restriction of liberty order in place, meaning Whyte will wear an electronic tag for 12 months.
Sheriff McLaughlin also made Whyte, of Stewart Place, Fochabars, subject to the sex offenders register for five years.
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