A pervert pensioner has been jailed after he sexually abused a young girl and convinced her his behaviour was “normal”.
Ronald Watson, 75, touched his young victim sexually on various occasions over a five-year period while she was under the age of 12.
The pensioner, who also exposed himself to the child, convinced her his sickening behaviour was normal.
It was only years later when the girl received sexual education classes at school that she realised she had been abused.
Watson previously admitted two charges in connection with the matter, which happened over a five-year period in the 2010s in Aberdeenshire.
Quite rightly ashamed
He admitted sexually assaulting the girl on various occasions and indecently exposing his genitals in a sexual manner with the intention that she would see on various occasions.
And now he has appeared back in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court for sentencing, where Sheriff William Summers branded his conduct “despicable”.
Defence agent Gregor Kelly said his client had no previous convictions and had made full admissions to the police.
He added: “He has at no stage sought to minimise his offending.
“He is quite rightly ashamed.
“He’s expressed a wish to co-operate with the authorities to get to the root of the offending behaviour, and get to the root of why this offending behaviour took place.
“He’s determined to find answers to prevent anything like this happening again.
“He wants to take this opportunity to apologise openly and publicly for what he has done.”
‘Shocking, appalling, and despicable’
Sheriff William Summers described Watson’s actions as “shocking”, “appalling”, and “despicable”.
He added his behaviour was “likely to have profound and life-long consequences” for his victim.
The sheriff told Watson, of Kellands Road, Inverurie: “These charges are simply too serious to be dealt with by anything other than a custodial sentence.”
He jailed him for 32 months and made him subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act for an indefinite period.
Fiscal depute Colin Neilson previously told the court Watson sexually assaulted the pre-teen girl on “numerous occasions” by touching her to her chest and genitals.
He added: “The accused told the complainer it was normal.
“Sexual education at school made her realise the accused was abusing her.”
Mr Neilson said the girl eventually disclosed what happened to her guidance teacher, and the school alerted police.
During his police interview, Watson was asked how often he had touched the girl.
He replied: “Quite a lot.”
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