A Masters student is awaiting sentence after he was caught sending sexual messages with he thought was a 13-year-old girl.
Veera Moturi told the “child” – actually an adult male – he loved her and sent sexually explicit images to her.
The 25-year-old was caught by police at Dundee Railway Station after officers were flagged down by James Doyle, the paedophile hunter Moturi had been speaking to.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard how the offences were committed just days after Moturi had entered the UK on a student visa from India.
Moturi told police after being arrested: “We don’t have this nonsense in India. What is the age of consent here? Is it 16?
“I didn’t force her. If she says it’s okay we can be friends.”
Decoy sting
Mr Doyle, from the Child Protectors Scotland group, posed as a girl named “Lucie Reilly” on the social media site Skout.
Moturi continued to engage with the decoy account via WhatsApp even after “Lucie” told him she was 13.
Fiscal depute Gavin Burton said: “The accused asked her if she knew anything about love or marriage and she said no.
“He said they share responsibilities and the man should take care of the woman and after marriage there can be a close physical relationship.
“The accused asked where she was staying and for her house number.”
Moturi later sent a selfie-style image of himself to the profile and told “Lucie” that she could sleep with him at his home in Edinburgh.
He later sent a number of images of adults having sex, as well as saying she was “cute” and that he loved her.
Caught at Dundee station
Moturi, of Oxgangs Drive, Edinburgh, later contacted the account from Dundee Railway Station and sent an image of the station concourse.
Mr Doyle was in the area and flagged down a police van to make officers aware of the circumstances.
Moturi was traced and said: “It’s not for anything sexual.”
He pled guilty to attempting to cause a child to look at a sexual image and attempting to communicate indecently with a child between January 5 and 9 2020 on Oxgangs Drive and Dundee’s Bellisle Drive.
The court heard how Moturi was studying a Masters in international heritage and cultural tourism management at Napier University.
Sheriff George Way deferred sentence on Moturi until next month for social work reports to be prepared and placed him on the sex offender’s register.
