A sex offender who tried to lure two young girls to his home with the promise of ice cream and money has been spared jail – despite fears he can not be rehabilitated.
Biju Mathew preyed on the primary school pupils as the hung from a climbing frame in an Aberdeen park.
After approaching them to ask for a kiss, he made explicit and sexual comments towards the pair before trying to tempt them away from the play equipment.
When the girls rejected him, the father-of-three tried to entice them into visiting his home by offering them £25 each and ice cream.
Mathew even gave them his address and pointed out his house from the park.
The Indian national denied committing the offences and claimed the children fabricated the story as they were racist towards him and his sons.
But Sheriff Kenneth Stewart took just two minutes to find the devout Catholic guilty “without any hesitation” after trial.
He said the details the children gave during their evidence about what was said by Mathew could have “only come from the lips of the accused”.
Yesterday Mathew, of 34 Balgownie Way, Aberdeen, appeared back in the dock at the city’s sheriff court for sentence after failing to appear late last year.
The court heard that since his conviction in October the 43-year-old had failed to accept his guilt.
Sheriff William Taylor said that as a result he was struggling to find an alternative way to deal with him other than by imposing a custodial sentence.
The court heard that the normal way to treat sex offenders such as Mathew would be to place them on a rehabilitation programme, however the sheriff said social workers did not think he would comply as he still believed he was innocent.
Representing the dad yesterday, solicitor Mike Allan said that although his client still thought he was innocent he had now accepted he was found guilty after trial.
He said that Mathew would be willing to comply with any conditions placed on him.
Sheriff Taylor agreed to place him under supervision for two years and ordered that he take part in the “Moving Forward, Making Changes” programme aimed at rehabilitating sex offenders.
However, the sheriff said he would review Mathew’s progress in three months and if he had not complied he would be jailed.
Mathew was also placed on the sex offenders register for two years.
Following the trial a relative of the children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the incident has left the girls “too scared to close their eyes at night”.
She said: “My one is keeping me up every night.
“She will not go to sleep unless I lie down with her.
“The other is now starting to wet the bed. Something she hadn’t done before this.”
She said it was “terrifying” to think would may have happened if the children had not sensed something was wrong.
She added: “You know what children are like, they don’t know the proper value of money and £25 is a lot. I’m just glad they didn’t end up going to his house.”
During the trial, the court heard from the father of one of the girls, who confronted Mathew after they told him what he had said on August 3 last year.
The 26-year-old told the court that he had been furious when he approached Matthew and demanded to know what had been happening.
The court heard that at that point Mathew, formerly of Marchbank Place, Aberdeen, claimed he could not speak English and started crying.
The man then waited in the park with Mathew while his girlfriend called the police.