A man who pleasured himself while parked in a Blairgowrie street was spotted by horrified staff and residents at a sheltered housing complex.
Perth Sheriff Court was told that Russell Mason had been sitting in his car with his trousers around his ankles. He was seen by an elderly woman who had been distressed by what she saw and by staff at the sheltered housing who were alerted by her shouts.
The very public act could also have been witnessed by pupils from Blairgowrie High School milling around Harriet Court during their lunch break.
The Crown accepted there had been no evidence he had been seen by any of the youngsters, but 35-year-old Mason was nonetheless placed on the sex offenders register.
Solicitor Paul Ralph told the court his client had good reason to be in the area of the sheltered housing as his girlfriend at the time had a job as a home help and he had driven her there before returning to pick her up.
Mr Ralph gave no explanation for his client’s actions but made it clear that they had ”not been directed at anyone.”
”This was a thoroughfare used by children from the school but there is no suggestion that any children have seen him,” the agent said. ”That is perhaps more luck than anything else.
”The woman who did see him and who was distressed by what she saw viewed him from a first-floor window. I understand that she could not believe what she was seeing. She called to auxiliaries who came upstairs and also saw Mr Mason.
”One had to climb on to a sink unit to get a closer look as she could not believe her eyes.”
Mr Ralph added that the act had been ”carried out in public view within a car, but possibly not in full public view.”
Mason, of Dunkeld, admitted that on June 21 last year, at Harriet Court, Harriet Row, Blairgowrie, he masturbated in public view.
Sheriff Michael Fletcher made Mason subject to a community payback order for the next 12 months.