A teenager who sexually assaulted a boy from his church while on holiday with his family was spared a jail sentence.
Wesley Mitchell, 19, was invited by the victim’s family to join them on a three-day trip overseas as they were worried he was suffering from depression.
Several weeks later he confessed to a fellow member of his religious organisation he had “physical contact” with his pre-teen victim.
Mitchell was placed on a community payback order with three years of supervision at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on Thursday.
He was also ordered to undertake 170 hours of unpaid work and made subject of the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act for three years.
Sheriff James Williamson told him: “The offence to which you pled guilty was a deplorable offence.
“It involved a breach of trust not only of the complainer but of his parents and your parents when you were a guest in their company.”
Mitchell was 17 when the offence occurred and Sheriff Williamson said he had no intention of sending him to custody.
Police were alerted to the offence when the boy’s father, informed on the advice of a church elder, contacted the NSPCC.
The court previously heard that Mitchell, who had since moved from his home at Bonnyton Court, Glenrothes, to Portsmouth, was brought up in a conservative environment with limited contact with children of his own age.
He admitted sexually assaulting the boy at a house on August 12, 2018.
Mitchell had attended church sermons at the same time as the boy and his family before they returned to their accommodation and the offence occurred in his bedroom.
The accused had told the boy not to tell anyone but later revealed what he had done in a series of apparently remorseful messages to two adult members of his church, which included ‘sorry’ emojis.
