A man has pled guilty to sexually assaulting a woman at a bus depot in Dunfermline by squeezing her bottom.
Stephen Lyon, 55, admitted seizing and squeezing his victim’s backside at the Stagecoach Depot, St Leonards, on July 22 this year.
A sheriff placed him on the Sex Offenders Register ahead of sentencing next month.
The court heard Lyon was convicted for a “serious crime” when he was a teenager, the details of which were not disclosed.
He appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Wednesday to admit the most recent offence.
Accused thought grope was ‘a laugh’
Procurator fiscal depute Azrah Yousaf told the court Lyon had hugged the woman, who can not be identified for legal reasons, then “placed his hand on her buttock and groped her.
She said: “He was heard to make a groaning noise”.
The woman was upset and police were later called.
The fiscal said, at the time, Lyon suggested he had tapped her bottom “as a laugh” and that it was “all meant as a joke and was not sexual”.
Defence lawyer Jaclyn Robertson said: “He does have a serious conviction on his record but there has been nothing since.
“The matter on record was when he was 17 years of age.”
The solicitor said Lyon, of Dalbeath Gardens, Hill of Beath, had written a letter of apology to the woman.
She said her client had his employment terminated as a result of his actions but has since successfully interviewed for a sales assistant job at a local garage.
‘Relevant’ past conviction
Sheriff Robert More told Lyon his previous conviction, “though a long time ago – and you might have been a different person altogether – does have some relevance given the nature of the charge to which you pleaded guilty”.
Sheriff More adjourned sentencing until September 20 to obtain background reports.
Lyon was placed on the Sex Offenders Register meantime and his bail was continued.
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