A Dingwall man who carried out a reign of sexual and physical abuse has been jailed for three years.
Arnold Robert was found guilty of 11 charges after a trial in September, and returned to Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday for sentencing.
But the court heard the 61-year-old, who is wheelchair-bound, still did not accept his guilt despite the jury’s unanimous verdict.
Defence advocate Lorenzo Alonzi pleaded with Sheriff David Sutherland not to jail his client, and said he had a number of health issues.
The sheriff, however, told him: “These are serious offences and children must be protected.
“I am mindful of your client’s physical condition but only a custodial sentence is important.”
During the trial Robert, of Deas Avenue, Dingwall, insisted the incidents he was charged with did not happen.
But a jury took just an hour to find him guilty of six physical assaults, three sexual assaults, a breach of the peace and one of possessing cannabis.
The assault charges involved one adult woman, four underage girls and an underage boy.
The offences occurred between 1989 and 2012.
Yesterday, Mr Alonzi referred to a social worker report on Robert, and said: “It is not unsurprising that in the report there is no acceptance of the matters my client has been convicted of.
“But it is recognised that they will have had a lasting impact on his victims. However they are not the most serious offences that have come to this court and were committed on a limited number of isolated occasions.
“The author of the report has gone too far to say in the report that he was a man living with unfathomable rage and sexual depravity. But it was wholly unacceptable behaviour.
“He has significant health difficulties and is on heavy medication daily as well as when required. He is already a prisoner in his own home due to his health and does not present any real risk now.”