A man who sent sexual messages to a 15-year-old girl asking her to meet him romantically has apologised to his victim, a court has heard.
Greg Robertson admitted messaging the schoolgirl on the social media app Snapchat and requesting they meet up – even stating in one of the messages that his unlawful behaviour was “possibly wrong”.
The 38-year-old sent a number of ‘snaps’ to the underage teen, suggesting they meet up in his car and “kiss” and also asked the girl if she could “keep a secret?”.
But Robertston was soon caught when the girl spoke to her mum and showed her the messages he’d sent.
During his sentence hearing at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, Robertson was placed on the sex offender’s register for one year.
Girl was just 15 at the time
Fiscal depute Tom Proctor previously told the court that, at the time of Robertson messaging the girl on Snapchat, she was just 15.
“She and her friends regularly used the social media application,” he said.
“At the time, the complainer and the other parties concerned were all within their home addresses.
“At around 11.50pm on October 27 2021, the complainer was within her bedroom sending Snapchat messages to her friends with the caption ‘Goodnight’.
“Within a few minutes, she received a reply from a Snapchat account belonging to Greg Robertson.
“She received a Snapchat message from the accused, with the accused’s face, with the caption, ‘how would you feel if I kissed you?’
“The complainer informed her friends of this and they suggested that she reply to the accused the following day whilst they were there.
“Thereafter, at 9pm the following day, the complainer received various Snapchats from the account.”
The girl then opened the messages, with one containing a picture of Robertson’s face and realised that the account must belong to Greg Robertson.
Robertson then told the teenager: “It’s possibly wrong, can I trust you?”
He then sent a follow-up message asking again if the girl wanted to kiss him.
A search warrant was granted and officers searched Robertson’s home address where he was cautioned and arrested.
He was taken to Kittybrewster custody suite and, while being interviewed, he made various admissions.
Robertson was formally cautioned and charged on November 3 last year in relation to the offence.
Upon receiving these messages and images, the girl confided in her mother, and Robertson’s actions were reported to the police.
He then sent her a series of Snapchat messages with captions that said: “Who are you with?”, “if we kiss, will you keep it a secret?” and “how would it happen, my car?”
He pleaded guilty to a single charge of sexual written communications and images to a child for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification.
‘There was an element of planning here’
Robertson’s defence agent John Hardie told the court that his client had “no explanation” but that he had been consuming a lot of alcohol at the time.
“I think it’s fair to say he has no explanation, but this came after the death of his friend and his high alcohol use.
“He is extremely remorseful and has apologised to the complainer.
“Mr Robertson pleaded guilty straight away and has never tried to minimise this offence.”
Sheriff Lesley Johnston told Robertson that she had taken into account that he had been drinking alcohol and was suffering from poor mental health at the time.
“You have also apologised to the complainer for your actions,” she said.
“However, I do believe there was an element of planning here – you got hold of the complainer’s Snapchat details and messaged her.
“You also cannot really explain why you did it.”
As a direct alternative to a prison sentence, Sheriff Johnston sentenced Robertson, of Corthan Drive, Aberdeen, to a community payback order with supervision for 12 months and 140 hours of unpaid work.
She also placed him on a sex offender’s register for one year and ordered him to take part in a sex offender’s programme.
Sheriff Johnston also put a non-harassment order in place, meaning Robertson cannot approach the 15-year-old girl for one year.
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