A sexual predator handed a “call me” note to one of his past victims at her Perth workplace, six years after he assaulted her when she was 15.
Kyle Laing, 26, gave the woman a piece of paper with his mobile phone number and a message on it reading, “phone me after your work”, as she carried out her duties in a shop in the city’s St Catherine’s Retail Park on May 13 last year.
It was just six months after he had been released from prison on licence after attacking her and another woman.
The 22-year-old told a jury trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court she “froze” when Laing approached “out of nowhere” and passed her the note.
She went to a secure staff room and radioed her manager on a headset to explain what had happened and how she was previously sexually assaulted by Laing.
Asked by prosecutor Lee Corr how she felt at the time, she said: “Panicked, because obviously he found out where I was working and on shift that day and came up and approached me, after doing something to me when I was 15 years old that no 15-year-old or anyone should go through”.
Previous assault
The woman gave evidence about how she was sexually assaulted by Laing in the garden of a Perth property on June 18 2016.
She was 15 at the time and he was 18.
The woman said he grabbed her by the waist and turned her towards him and used one hand to hold her neck and the other hand to grasp her bottom.
She said he then attempted to kiss her and she told him “no” and pushed him away.
Asked by Mr Corr how she felt when she was attacked, the woman said: “I felt violated.
“When I look back now, my innocence was taken away”.
After the trial ended, the jury was told Laing was jailed for this.
Guilty
In closing submissions to jurors, defence advocate Duncan McPhie said Laing’s position was he handed the woman a non-threatening note with his phone number on it in a busy shop and denies this was a crime.
The lawyer also suggested Laing may not even have recognised the woman and there was no evidence of using her name.
Prosecutor Mr Corr argued it was crucial for the jury to consider the context of the sexual assault in deciding what happened with the note was enough to cause alarm and threaten serious disturbance.
The jury convicted Laing by majority verdict of breaching the peace by conducting himself in a disorderly manner by approaching the woman at her place of work, speaking to her, and handing her the note.
Attacked woman in Perth park
In August 2017, as well as being found guilty of sexually assaulting the 15-year-old girl, a jury determined Laing attacked another woman at Perth’s North Inch park
He had set up a fake Facebook profile under the name Iona Gannon and told his victim he wanted to buy clothes she was selling through Facebook.
On February 19 2017, he turned up at the park and told her “Iona” was running late, before grabbing and tripping the woman and brutally attacking her.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard he seized her arms, pinned her down and put his hand over her mouth.
He touched her in a sexual manner over her clothing before repeatedly punching her head to her injury.
An extended sentence of nine years and nine months was imposed – four years and nine months to be served in custody and five years on licence in the community.
Laing was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely and put on a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, curbing his internet use and contact with women and children for 15 years.
He had been in the community on licence since November 2021 but was recalled to prison to serve the remainder of the sentence after note incident.
His earliest release date, subject to parole board review, is November 2026.
‘Significant risk’
Sentencing this week, Sheriff Charles Macnair told him the incident “must have been extremely distressing” for the woman.
The sheriff sentenced Laing, already an inmate at HMP Perth, to nine months in prison to run concurrently to his existing sentence.
Sheriff Macnair said while it will be a matter for the parole board to assess his risk: “Certainly, on the face of it, you do still pose a significant risk to those you have assaulted in the past”.
He also made an indefinite non-harassment order to protect Laing’s twice-targeted victim.
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