A pizza chef who smoked cannabis with a missing 12 year-old girl before raping her in Fife has been jailed for five years.
Erick Fragnito exploited the youngster at his then-home in Burntisland in June 2023.
The 27-year-old later claimed he thought the child was older than she was.
Fragnito appeared at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday and admitted charges of sexual assault and rape.
Lord Mulholland cut the term from six years due to the guilty plea.
Fragnito, now of Dunfermline, was put on the sex offenders list for life.
Smoked cannabis
The court heard how the girl had been reported missing, having not come back home the previous night.
Fragnito then happened to meet the victim and her friends and invited them back to his home.
He drank alcohol and smoked cannabis and the 12-year-old girl did at one stage as well.
Soon afterwards Fragnito went on to prey on the vulnerable youngster.
He had been scheduled to appear at an earlier court date but failed to show and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Jailing him, Lord Mulholland told the sex attacker: “As you now know, having sex with a 12 year-old girl is rape – that is the law.
“There was a large age gap between you and her.
“You were a mature adult and should have controlled the situation.”
The judge added the content of a pre-sentencing social work did Fragnito “no credit” but the exact details were not revealed during the hearing.
In February last year, The Courier told how Fragnito was working as a chef when he broke into a rival’s home and stole his games console.
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