A middle-aged man who sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy during a bus trip has been placed on probation for 18 months at Perth Sheriff Court.
Christopher Roper was previously found guilty after trial of using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices toward the youngster.
The court heard how the 43-year-old made sexually suggestive remarks, urging the teen to kiss him and touching him on the legs, buttocks and private parts.
Roper, of Farnworth, Bolton, and his victim had been travelling on a bus from Perth to a Carse of Gowrie village on Hogmanay last year when the offence occurred.
The accused denied assault, saying it was all a “misunderstanding”.
Roper had downed “six or seven” pints of beer and had been travelling to the Carse of Gowrie to meet relatives on the day in question. He approached the boy at a bus stop in Perth at around 9pm and struck up a conversation with him.
Roper followed the teenager on to a bus and sat beside him before making the unwanted advances. The boy said Roper’s intentions quickly became clear.
“He asked me if I wanted to have a ‘good time’, and when I declined he told me he had killed people before, when he was in the army,” he told the court.
“He then rubbed my thigh and slipped his hand under my trousers and squeezed my bottom. He kept asking if he could walk me home, but I said no and that my mother was home.”
Roper insisted the teenager had “misinterpreted” his actions. In his version of events, he had not asked for a kiss, but had asked the boy if he “could clear the mist” a reference to the fogged-up bus window.
He said it was possible he could have brushed the teen’s crotch “with an elbow” by mistake as he reached over to clear the glass.
However, Roper denied having touched the boy’s buttocks, claiming, “I have never touched a man’s buttocks I would never do that.”
His victim fled the bus once it arrived in the village and quickly raised the alarm at a pub.
Officers traced Roper outside a property in the village and he was taken to police headquarters in Dundee.
“You have simply concocted this story of yours to fit in with what you are charged,” the depute fiscal said.
Sheriff George Way found Roper guilty of the offence, branding the evidence “reliable”.
“This was a clumsy and unsophisticated piece of very unpleasant behaviour in public,” he said. “However, there was more of a drunk, possibly slightly depressive, element to the offence rather than any deep-seated psychological issues.
“It must be brought home to Mr Roper that he has to control himself in future.”
In addition to the probation order, Roper was ordered to carry out 120 hours of community service. His name was also added to the sex offenders register.