A smiling swimmer sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl at an Aberdeen pool – and then laughed about it.
Mehrdad Esmaeili made a beeline for the girl in the water at Northfield Swimming Pool, touching her bottom before swimming off and laughing.
The child, who had already reported the 34-year-old and his friends to a lifeguard on a previous occasion for unsettling comments, had earlier moved to a different part of the pool to avoid him.
Fiscal depute Andrew McMann told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened on October 25 last year at the Northfield pool on Kettlehills Crescent.
A few days earlier, the child and her friends went to the pool and noticed a group of three men, including Esmaeili, at the deep end.
The men asked the group of children their names and ages, also commenting that the 12-year-old was “beautiful”.
The interaction left the girl feeling “very nervous” and she did not provide her name or age, instead telling a lifeguard what had happened.
Mr McMann told the court the lifeguard advised her to stay away from the men and said he’d report the incident to his manager.
However, on October 25 the girl and her friends again encountered Esmaeili at the pool.
There were around 11 people there at the time, including Esmaeili and his friends.
Mr McMann said: “The complainer observed the accused swimming and formed the impression he was swimming very close to her and her friends and moved away from him.
“At one point, the accused swam back towards her doing what’s described as a front stroke and his hand touched her on the bum.
“This was intentional and the complainer look back at her smiling and laughing.”
Following the incident, which the girl described as a “swipe”, Esmaeili returned to his friends.
Meanwhile, the child was left “shocked and scared” and reported what had happened to the lifeguard and the police were contacted.
Esmaeili, of Gallowgate Street, Glasgow, pled guilty to sexually assaulting a child under the age of 13.
‘At the time, he considered the activity to be horseplay or hijinks’
The defence agent representing Esmaeili said he appeared with no previous convictions.
He said Esmaeili’s position was that it was not him who made the comment about the child being “beautiful”, but one of his friends.
However, he accepted touching the 12-year-old’s bottom.
The lawyer said: “At the time, he considered the activity to be horseplay or hijinks, but he realises the full implications and how it’s made the young girl feel.
“He’s an intelligent man and accepts his standard of behaviour fell below what is right and proper.”
He went on: “He now lives at the address in Glasgow and she certainly will not see this man at her local baths again.
“He’s asked me to extend his apologies for his conduct.”
Sheriff James Hastie deferred sentence on Esmaeili for reports and placed him on the sex offenders register in the meantime.
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