By Mark Mackay

A PERTHSHIRE man who sexually assaulted a drunk 15-year-old girl was yesterday placed on probation for three years.

Rikki Tainsch spotted the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as she walked towards Perth city centre with a 16-year-old friend.

After charming the pair into his car, the 24-year-old drove them to his home at Creagalmond, Tibbermore where he later engaged in sex acts with the younger of the two, though he knew she was underage.

Perth Sheriff Court heard Tainsch (24) was driving with two male passengers, both 18, when he spotted the girls in Perth’s Balhousie Street at around 11.30 on a Friday night in August of last year.

After a first attempt to charm the younger of the two girls failed, he spotted her again, this time in Scott Street.

Stopping his car to talk to them, depute fiscal Chris Macintosh said the accused had begun to address the 15-year-old in a flirtatious manner, opening with “hello gorgeous.”

Tainsch asked the girls where they were going and offered them a lift, which they eventually accepted.

The accused’s actions were questioned by his younger companions, who had became uncomfortable at this point, with each forming the opinion that the complainer and her friend were “too young.”

That did not however stop the accused who drove them to his home in Tibbermore, where he supplied the younger girl with another drink.

Already so drunk that she could not walk unaided she began to complain of feeling ill after consuming the offered vodka and iron brew.

The accused then carried her to his bed, where she vomited, before leaving her to sleep.

Sometime later Tainsch re-entered the room and engaged in sex acts with her, though he knew at the time that she was under 16.

Tainsch’s solicitor Iain Smith claimed the time that had passed would have allowed for some of the girls’ inebriation to wear off.

“She had been sick and was left to sleep and it was hours later when both woke up and the offence took place,” he said.

“It did not occur when she was heavily under the influence.”

However, the court heard earlier from depute fiscal Chris Macintosh that the complainer had “little recollection” of events.

He said, “When she woke up she found the accused beside her in bed with his hand down her tracksuit bottoms.

“The complainer’s recollection of these matters is that the accused neither asked or sought her permission for what he was doing.

He added that at one point Tainsch had pulled the 15-year-old’s trousers and underwear down before she “came to her senses” and fled the scene.

Tainsch’s solicitor Iain Smith however dismissed the claim of flight, saying the complainer and her friend had been seen by police officers a short time later, “laughing and joking” as they walked towards Perth on the Tibbermore road.

Mr Smith told the court his client’s offence was “at the low end of the spectrum.”

He added, “The reports that the court has received are favourable by and large and indicate that a period of imprisonment is not essential to protect public safety,” he said.

“He is highly unlikely to get into this situation again.”

Tainsch admitted that on August 4 last year at his home address, he used lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour towards the 15-year-old, giving her alcohol, fondling her and causing her to perform a sex act.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said that after hearing the details of the offence he had seriously considered sending the accused to prison.

However, following Mr Smith’s comments and after considering both reports and the findings of the High Court, he said he was willing to deal with the matter by way of a non-custodial sentence, though “with a certain degree of hesitation.”

He said, “Through peer pressure, the pressure of marketing and certain aspects of leisure in the widest sense of the word—such as music and video—it seems that the age of maturity is dropping lower and lower.

“As a result young people who are effectively still children are involved in activities that they are not yet ready for—and by that I mean consumption of alcohol and sexual intimacy.”

Warning Tainsch of the seriousness of his offence, he added, “Legislation is there to protect people who for whatever reason are unable to protect themselves.

“You were nine years older than the 15-year-old complainer.

“She was under the influence of alcohol and had to a certain degree been incapacitated by alcohol, though of course you were not the sole cause of that.

“She had taken drink and as a result was ill and sex acts short of intercourse then took place between the two of you.”

In addition to the probation, Tainsch was ordered to carry out 275 hours of unpaid work.

He will remain on the sex offenders’ register for the next three years and must also attend the Tay Project.