A pensioner who was ordered by a court to stay away from women he did not know sexually assaulted one he met at a bus stop.
James Farquhar breached the order to speak to the woman as they queued for the number 10 service at Elgin Bus Station.
After engaging her in conversation he touched her on the body, put his arm around her and kissed her on the neck, prompting her to tell him: “Do you mind? I don’t even know you!”
Farquhar, 71, appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court to admit sexual assault and breaching a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) that was imposed following his release from a previous sentence for sexual assault.
Fiscal depute Susan Love told the court it was around 12.40pm when Farquhar’s victim accepted his offer to join the bus queue in front of him.
He asked her where she was from and the pair discovered they had an acquaintance in common.
The woman agreed that Farquhar could sit next to her on the bus to tell her about their mutual acquaintance.
Pensioner touched woman’s thigh
But as they travelled from Elgin to Forres, Farquhar began to touch her on the leg, his hand at one point lingering on the woman’s thigh.
After the pair got off the bus his attentions escalated.
“The accused put his arm around [the complainer] and kissed her to the side of the neck,” Ms Love told the court.
This prompted the woman to tell him: “Do you mind? I don’t even know you!”
The pair then visited bars in the town, with Farquhar repeatedly trying to touch the woman.
She asked him to “respect her boundaries” and told him she “had a boyfriend”, but the behaviour continued, with Farquhar later touching her thigh and buttock.
‘Don’t run away from me’
When the woman tried to leave the Carlton Hotel, Farquhar told her she “wasn’t allowed to go home until he said she could” and warned her “Don’t run away from me now.”
The exchange was overheard by concerned onlookers who intervened to allow the woman to leave the premises and prevented Farquhar from following her.
The court heard that on the same date Farquhar also visited the Aldi supermarket in Elgin, where he touched a woman on the hand, in breach of his SOPO.
Farquhar was later traced at Elgin Bus Station and arrested.
Defence solicitor Mike Chapman said: “Mr Farquhar clearly acted in a way that he should not have and he appreciates that, that is reflected in his guilty plea.”
Sheriff Sara Matheson noted that Farquhar’s release on license for similar offending.
She said that the nature of the offending left her no alternative and jailed Farquhar, a prisoner in Inverness, for 30 months, backdated to September 25 last year.
