A painter who flashed his penis at a pensioner while doing work at her home tried to claim he was just playing with a piece of sandpaper.
David Grant denied exposing himself in front of the shocked 69-year-old at a farm property in Aberdeenshire and stood trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
However, a sheriff was quick to dismiss his far-fetched explanation after hearing a damning voicemail recording in which Grant himself admitted: “I just took it a bit too far”.
Taking to the witness stand, Grant’s victim told fiscal depute Eabha Sweeney she “wasn’t entirely comfortable with some of the things he was saying” while he was working at the property in October 2020.
She said: “He mentioned that a zip on his overalls was broken and his wife hadn’t got round to fixing it yet.”
Victim was ‘obviously very upset and distressed’
The woman said that on a later occasion Grant had followed her over to a shed.
She told the court: “He said ‘my wife still hasn’t fixed the zip’ and he lifted the pocket with tools in and exposed his penis to me.”
The woman described being in “total shock” and immediately returned to her house and locked the door.
She said Grant later came to her door to return a key and said: “I’m sorry about what happened earlier.”
Cross-examining the woman, defence agent Ross Taggart suggested she may have mistaken his genitals for a piece of sandpaper.
He asked: “Could he have been playing with a bit of sandpaper and not exposing himself?”
When the woman replied “no”, the solicitor added: “You see, the painter denies exposing himself to you and his position is that he’s shocked you should accuse him of such a thing.
“Could he have simply been playing with an item, such as sandpaper, and you’re mistaken about him exposing himself?”
“I would say definitely not,” she replied.
She reported the incident to Grant’s boss, Sean Wilson, who told the court he contacted the painter and told him not to return to the property.
Damning voicemail played to court
A recording of a voicemail left on Mr Wilson’s phone by Grant was played to the court.
In it, Grant says: “Hi Sean, if you give me a call back. I don’t know what to say.
“I’m a stupid f***er and I’m really sorry.
“I just took it a bit too far.”
Asked by Ms Sweeney if Grant had done any further work for him after that, Mr Wilson replied: “No.”
Sheriff Christine McCrossan found Grant, of Carnie Brae, Kintone, guilty of intentionally exposing his genitals.
She said: “This has been a distressing case and the complainer was obviously very upset and distressed when she was giving evidence.
“We have clear evidence from the complainer and she didn’t go back on anything she said.”
Sheriff McCrossan deferred sentence on Grant until next month in order for a criminal justice social work report to be carried out.
She will also give consideration as to whether he will be made subject to the sex offenders’ register.
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