Inverness man fondled teenage girl as she slept on sofa

A 30-year-old Inverness man who indecently assaulted a teenage girl was warned he could be jailed for the offence.

Ian Shand of Glendoe Terrace appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to the charge of fondling the girl as she slept on a sofa in a house in South Kessock on an unknown date in 2014.

Fiscal Roderick Urquhart told Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood that the assault came to light when Shand himself went to police to ask for advice after he received a text accusing him of being a “rapist”, claiming he mistook his victim for a woman he knew.

Mr Urquhart added: “But the other witnesses do not back up his story of mistaken identity.”

He told the court that there were significant physical differences between the two women.

Sentence was deferred for a background report and Sheriff Fleetwood told Shand: “I find it hard to believe that anything in the report will dissuade me from a custodial sentence.”

Shand, who was immediately placed on the Sex Offender’s Register, will re-appear on February 17 and he had his bail continued.