A former soldier burst into tears after a jury cleared him of abusing two boys.
Barry Gunn, 37, wept as two charges against him were found not proven at Oban Sheriff Court.
Gunn, who is now a builder and mechanic, was accused of abusing one boy at various locations in Appin, north of Oban, when the boy was between the ages of eight and 13, from 2004 to 2009.
Gunn, of The Cottage, Lettershuna, Appin was alleged to have abused the child at a caravan at the rear of a garage in Appin, at Calasona, Port Appin, and in a van parked at Creran Road, Appin, by touching the boy’s private parts and making the boy touch his, repeatedly showing him pornography and supplying him with alcohol and cigarettes.
He was also accused of abusing a second boy, aged 11, by getting into bed with him and touching his private parts in 2009 at a house in Appin.
Gunn denied the charges against him.
During his three-day trial, he told the jury he joined the army at 18 and served four years, based in Cambridgeshire. He stayed down south before returning to Appin in 2005.
The first boy gave evidence that Gunn started giving him cans of beer and cider and sexually abusing him when he was nine.
Gunn said: “He enjoyed hanging about the garage. I think he enjoyed my company. He definitely did look up to me.”
But he claimed the boy turned into a “nuisance”.
“He would come out with fanciful stories. He was getting into a lot of trouble in general.”
He said that in 2012 when the boy was 16, he got into trouble and he had to give him “a couple of slaps”.
But he said all the allegations of sexual abuse were “absolutely not true”.
He said the incident with the second boy did not happen, adding that he believed the boy had been accused of stealing at the time.
Solicitor Laura McManus told the jury the alleged victims were not credible or reliable witnesses, the first having freely admitted to having used alcohol and drugs, the second having changed parts of his story when questioned by her.
Gunn declined to comment after walking free from court.
