A north-east pensioner has been found guilty of repeatedly sexually abusing a child from the age of 10.
Peter Fenton, 68, was convicted by a jury at Aberdeen Sheriff Court of sexually touching the young girl over a nearly three-year period at an address in Aberdeenshire.
Fenton, who denied the charges, was found guilty by a jury of 11 women and four men after more than three hours of deliberation.
Giving evidence via video, the girl told the court how Fenton’s actions toward her had escalated until one day she fought back by shouting and screaming at him.
She then took the brave decision to report Fenton to the police.
Victim was ‘just numb’
Jurors heard how the girl, now a teenager, had kept the abuse quiet for years until one day he placed his hands inside her lower clothing and touched her private parts.
She said what Fenton did had made her feel “weird and confused”.
Giving evidence, the girl’s mum told fiscal depute Rebecca Thompson that her daughter called her on January 4 last year “screaming” that Fenton had touched her.
“She was hysterical,” the woman said.
Later, when her mum quizzed her about it, the true nature of Fenton’s abuse was revealed.
“I asked if that’s the only time it had ever happened and she said that it was the only time he had ever touched skin,” the mum said through tears.
“She wasn’t upset. She wasn’t angry. She was just numb.”
Reporting to police the ‘right thing to do’
The woman said her daughter thought for a few days about what to do before deciding to contact the police.
“She said she wanted to call the police about it as it was the right thing to do,” her mum said.
Following a three-day trial, the jury returned verdicts of guilty by majority to one charge that Fenton sexually assaulted the child by touching her private parts between March 2020 and January 2023.
He was also convicted by majority verdict of observing the child whilst she was in the shower on various occasions.
Upon the jury returning its verdict, Sheriff Morag McLaughlin placed Fenton, of Fyvie, on the sex offenders register.
She deferred sentence on him until September in order for a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment to be carried out.
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