A Moray man has been jailed for more than a year after sexually assaulting a woman in a caravan near Keith.
Peter Trevethick, 63, was convicted of entering his victim’s caravan uninvited, restraining her, removing her clothing and massaging her naked body before making her touch his naked body.
The incident took place on July 25, 2017 at Sillyearn Croft in Grange near Keith, where Trevethick worked and the victim was known to him.
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov described his actions as “a grave offence” and a “terrifying experience” for his victim befotre imposing the sentence of 62 weeks imprisonment.
Trevethick, of Craigdhu Road, Grange originally pled guilty to the charge of sexual assault, but his defence advocate Simon Collins moved to withdraw that plea.
Mr Collins cited a fault in his client’s past representation and insisted that some of the wording in Trevethick’s charge sheet was wrong, in that he did not enter the caravan uninvited and his actions were not sexual.
However, sheriff Pasportnikov and depute fiscal Alex Swain rejected the motion to withdraw the plea.
Mr Collins told Elgin Sheriff Court that Trevethick’s Aspergers syndrome had played a role in the incident.
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He said: “Trevethick accepts the errors of his ways in this incident and accepts what he did was wrong and is now focusing on working on his perceptions and reactions which have been a problem for him.
“At the time of the incident, he had a prescription that was causing him sleep difficulties and during those sleepless hours, his family noticed he wasn’t behaving normally.
“This scenario of him residing at the croft and working with volunteers won’t happen again and he has also expressed that he is better on his own and has stated that he won’t take risks with women anymore.”
Mr Collins added that his client did not get any sexual gratification from what he did.
Sheriff Pasportnikov accepted this and said that she realised the offence was not for sexual gratification, but it was fuelled by frustration of the situation and his pre-existing Aspergers diagnosis.
In addition to Trevethick’s 62 weeks imprisonment, he will also be placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.
