A Perthshire company boss has narrowly avoided being placed on the Sex Offenders Register after he made a series of vile comments to a woman working on his car.
Stephen Saint, who heads up a team of electricians in Pitlochry, wept in the dock as his obscene remarks were read out in court.
He made suggestive comments about the woman bending over his vehicle, before offering to perform a sex act on her, saying: “You would love it.”
Saint, 50, then handed her a £170 bag of cocaine to hide from his mum and dad.
The woman later told police she felt “physically sick, disgusted and violated”.
Volunteer firefighter Saint admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner, causing the woman fear and alarm, at a property in St Colm Place – the address of his business S Saint Electrical Ltd – on June 26, last year.
He further admitted being concerned in the supply of a class A drug.
Perth Sheriff Court heard that Saint had been driven to drink and drugs at the time, after his father-in-law carried out a humiliating revenge attack on him.
Stephen Keen forced his son-in-law to beg for forgiveness after dowsing him with liquid and threatening to torch him.
Low risk to the public
After much debate, Sheriff Gillian Wade ruled that, although Saint’s remarks had been explicitly sexual, they “did not indicate an underlying deviance.” She decided not to place him on the Sex Offenders Register.
The sheriff told Saint: “This was appalling catalogue of comments to a woman who clearly did not receive them well.
“She was extremely distressed by what you said.”
She added: “I have no doubt that this was for your own sexual gratification.
“But an in-depth risk assessment suggests you are not actually a risk to the public at large, and as such I do not feel that registration follows.”
Saint, of Finlay Terrace, Pitlochry, was ordered to carry out 270 hours of unpaid work and placed on supervision for two years.
He was warned the sentence was a direct alternative to custody.
‘I’ll show you how sorry I am’
Fiscal depute David Currie told the court that the woman had attended at the property just after 11.30am to work on four of Saint’s vehicles.
Saint said to her: “I never get bored of seeing you bend over a car.”
Mr Currie said: “The complainer was surprised by the comment and tried to brush it off as humour.”
Saint walked off into his office, but returned later and told the woman: “You’re really funny. I’ll take you into that office and sort you out.”
The remarks became more explicit, with Saint offering to perform a sex act on her. “I’m f***ing good at it,” he said. “You would love it.”
He added: “Come into the office after you’re finished and I’ll show you how sorry I am.”
‘Too frightened to leave’
The woman, who is in her 40s, sent messages to her partner, telling him what Saint had said.
“She told him she was distressed and too frightened to leave,” said Mr Currie.
“At that time, the partner contacted police.”
The fiscal depute said: “At about 12.15pm, the accused’s parents arrived back.
“The accused approached the complainer and told her: ‘Take this and put it in your pocket’.
“He was referring to a small bag of white powder, which he put in her hand before walking off.”
Saint later said to her: “I hope you’re not digging in to that.”
The woman tried to give the bag back to Saint.
“The accused said he would give her more money for the inconvenience,” Mr Currie said.
“At 12.45pm, police arrived and observed the woman was distressed and physically upset.
“The bag of powder was seized. It was analysed as about 1.7g of cocaine.”
Revenge attack
Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said: “Mr Saint acknowledges his behaviour was entirely unacceptable and that it would have had an impact on the complainer.
“He is very sorry. He completely misjudged the situation.”
Saint, who employs nine people, has since taken a backseat in his company.
The court heard he was the victim of a “serious assault” at the hands of his father-in-law in January, 2020.
It left him suffering from PTSD and had frequent panic attacks.
Keen made his wife film the humiliating apology on her mobile phone.
The court heard that Keen had decided to take the law into his own hands after being told about a previous incident between Saint and his daughter.
The couple had now separated, Perth Sheriff Court was told.
