A 76-year-old Caithness man has been found guilty of molesting a young teenage girl.
George Cameron asked the child for “a hug” before kissing and licking her neck and face and touching her chest.
Following the sexual assault he encouraged his young victim to keep it a secret.
Cameron denied the single charge of sexual assault relating to an incident on September 12 of 2022, claiming the child’s account was “absolute rubbish”.
But, after two days of evidence, a jury took under three hours to return a majority guilty verdict on the charge.
In evidence led by fiscal depute Naomi Duffy-Welsh jurors had heard the victim describe how Cameron had kissed and licked her neck and face, before lifting her top to expose her chest.
He pulled up his own top and pressed his bare chest against her exposed breasts, pulling her towards him.
The incident left the girl “scared”, “uncomfortable” and “distressed”.
In a recorded interview played for the jury, she told how she had tried to stop Cameron.
Girl told OAP: ‘Please don’t’
“I grabbed his wrist and said please don’t,” she said.
The child reported the assault to her father who said his daughter was “shaken and confused” in the aftermath.
A police officer who dealt with the case said the girl was “visibly shaking” when they spoke to her.
Cameron, a retired maintenance foreman, was interviewed by police but denied having had any physical contact with the child.
A forensic examination, however, found DNA consistent with his own on the girl’s neck, along with a substance found in human saliva.
DNA matching Cameron’s was also present on the child’s chest and shorts.
Under questioning from Neil Beardmore, counsel for the defence, a forensic expert conceded that, in some circumstances, DNA can be transferred indirectly without the need for contact.
Taking to the witness box in his own defence, Cameron denied requesting a hug from the child before assaulting her saying: “I don’t do hugs”.
Caithness pensioner found guilty of sexually assaulting teenage girl
As the details of the charge were put to him he repeatedly answered: “I did not.”
But jurors rejected his version of events and found Cameron guilty of sexually assaulting the child.
Sheriff Robert Frazer told him: “You have been convicted of this offence, at this stage I will now defer sentence for the preparation of a criminal justice social work report.”
He allowed Cameron, of Sinclair Lane, Halkirk, to remain on bail in the meantime, but warned him: “All sentencing options will remain open to the court.”
He placed Cameron on the sex offenders register with immediate effect – the eventual length of registration to be determined at sentencing
The case will call again in September.
