A Hogmanay reveller caught having sex in one of Aberdeen’s busiest streets has been fined – despite a decision not to prosecute the woman involved.
Ross Sanders had spent hours drinking with his friends on December 31 while he was out celebrating the new year.
And after being thrown out of a number of pubs and clubs in the city’s Belmont Street the 28-year-old went into a doorway of The Academy shopping centre.
Around 1.45am on January 1, police found the pair surrounded by a crowd of people who were shouting and pointing at them.
And it turned out they had been having sex in full view of the public.
Yesterday Sanders appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court for sentence, having previously admitted public indecency.
However, the case against his former co-accused was dropped by the Crown and they confirmed they were no longer seeking a prosecution against the woman.
Representing the first offender, solicitor Les Green said it was unfair to charge one party and not the other.
He said: “To coin an old phrase, it takes two to tango.”
Mr Green said his client was “ashamed and embarrassed” to have acted in that way and said he had been “extremely intoxicated”.
He said: “He had been out celebrating the evening before.
“He has vague recollections of what went on that night. He was asked to leave several bars in the area for being too drunk.
“Even in this drunken state they have tried to achieve some discretion by going into an entrance in an attempt to get some semblance of privacy.”
The court heard the offence Sanders admitted would normally attract a period of time on the sex offenders register.
However, Mr Green persuaded Sheriff Margaret Hodge to accept the crime did not have a “significant sexual element to it”.
Sentencing Sanders, of Gellan, Strachan, Sheriff Hodge said: “This was an unedifying episode but I take into account the date and that a considerable amount of alcohol had been consumed.”
She fined him £250.
Sanders said he did not think it was fair the charges had been dropped against his former co-accused.
