A 64-year-old man who stroked a teenager’s thigh as she sat next to him on a bus has admitted sexual assault at Tain Sheriff Court.
Duncan Morrison had signalled the 15-year-old to sit in an empty seat beside him and asked where she lived before touching her leg.
When he began to move his hand up her thigh, the girl looked about “panicked” and another passenger stepped in, shouting at Morrison to stop.
The resourceful teen managed to snap a picture of Morrison on her mobile phone before he got off the bus and the matter was later reported to police.
Morrison appeared at Tain Sheriff Court to admit a single charge of sexual assault in relation to the incident on January 6 of last year.
Fiscal depute Naomi Duffy-Welsh told the court it took place on the X25 bus service between Inverness and Invergordon, which departed Inverness at 6.45pm.
She said the bus driver noted Morrison “appeared intoxicated” when he boarded.
She said: “The complainer was also on the bus at the time, with her boyfriend.”
But after the boyfriend got off at his stop, the teenager noticed a spillage on the floor and decided to move seats, at which point the accused “waved at her and indicated there was a spare seat next to him”.
“She sat next to him,” Ms Duffy-Welsh said.
Morrison initially engaged the girl in conversation and asked her where she lived.
Teen left ‘panicked’ by bus assault
“The accused then moved his hand and stroked the complainer’s leg,” the fiscal depute told Sheriff Neil Wilson, adding: “The accused continued to place his hand on her thigh, and moved his hand up to the top of her thigh.”
When the girl looked around “panicked” another passenger stood up and “saw the accused with his hand on her thigh”.
They shouted at the accused to “stop touching her or there would be trouble” at which point “the accused then moved his hand”.
The “upset” girl moved to a different seat for the rest of the journey, during which she called her father to make him aware of the situation and used her mobile phone to take a photograph of Morrison before he got off the bus in Invergordon.
The teenager was met at her bus stop by her father, who spoke to the driver and made him aware of the incident, which was later reported to police.
Predator claims ‘no recollection’ of bus assault
Morrison was traced and gave a no comment interview. When charged with the sexual assault he told officers: “I have no recollection of doing anything to anyone.”
Solicitor John MacColl, for Morrison, said his client had been to Inverness for a hospital appointment before drinking in a pub near the bus station.
Mr MacColl said Morrison accepted that he was “under the influence of alcohol” and could not remember the events.
“This conduct would seem to be completely out of character,” he said.
“He cannot explain his conduct, but does offer his unreserved apologies for the conduct he displayed on the bus,” Mr MacColl told Sheriff Neil Wilson.
Sheriff Wilson deferred sentencing for the production of a criminal justice social work report and placed Morrison, of Scotsburn Court, Tain, on the sex offenders register with immediate effect.
The eventual length of registration will be determined at sentencing.
