A distraught care home worker was left feeling “violated” and “dirty” after enduring months of harassment from a creepy colleague.
The woman, who was in her 20s, was repeatedly targeted by 52-year-old James Laidlaw at the home in Dundee.
Laidlaw sniffed her hair, grabbed her from behind and made a number of inappropriate comments.
He told the woman that he “wanted to eat her because she was so delicious” as well as saying he could do what he liked to her.
Matters came to an explosive end after Laidlaw was reported to management about his conduct.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard how a fuming Laidlaw followed the woman into a toilet cubicle and assaulted her.
She suffered a panic attack and described herself as “inconsolable”.
Victim was frightened to report colleague
The woman told the court: “I felt like I wasn’t a human being.
“It broke me completely. It changed who I am. I missed over a year of work and I am just honestly not the same any more.
“I don’t think I ever will be.”
Laidlaw originally stood trial accused of sexually assaulting her but a jury convicted him of an alternative assault charge.
The first offender was also convicted of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner towards the woman.
In her evidence, the woman said the first incident saw Laidlaw make an inappropriate comment about his wife’s breasts after displaying a photo on his phone.
She said things escalated over several months to the point he would make physical contact with her and stare at her.
The woman said she didn’t report him until months later because she was frightened about how he would react.
Denied he was ‘sexual predator’
Among the words she used to describe her feelings about Laidlaw’s behaviour including “horrendous”, “violated”, “dirty” and “disgusting”.
She said she would regularly phone in sick or make excuses not to attend work whenever she knew that Laidlaw would be working alongside her.
The court heard how the home manager informed Laidlaw about the complaints against him and asked him not to speak to the woman.
Laidlaw shouted repeatedly that he wasn’t a “sexual predator” and confronted the woman prior to the toilet incident.
The kitchen porter in his own evidence said the assault never took place and that the woman had been lying.
He told jurors: “I treat women with respect. They deserve to be treated with respect.
“It’s not in my character to do things like that to a woman.”
Laidlaw, of Mauchline Place West, was found guilty by a majority verdict of causing the woman fear or alarm by showing images of his wife and making comments about her breasts, approaching her from behind and standing close to her body, sniffing her, making remarks, staring at her body, hug her, threatening violence, untying her apron and pulling her towards him, acting aggressively, shouting and clenching her fists between February 1 and July 13 2022.
On July 13 2022, Laidlaw followed the woman into a changing room, seized her body, prevented her from entering the toilet cubicle, assaulted her by seizing her clothing across her chest and pushed her against a wall.
Sheriff Paul Brown deferred sentence on Laidlaw until October for a social work report to be prepared.
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