A TEENAGE sex offender who preyed on younger children was spared a jail sentence after a judge told him he considered it was important he continued to get treatment.
The youth, who cannot be identified, admitted sexually assaulting one young victim at a property in Dundee on November 15 2014.
He also pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting another child when he was asleep at another house in the city earlier that year.
At the High Court in Edinburgh today, a judge told him he would impose a community payback order on him for 19 months during which time he would have to reside at an education centre and be under supervision.
Nigel Morrison QC said: “The community payback order is a punishment that requires you to pay back to the community for the offences you have committed and it is an alternative to a custodial sentence.
“It will enable you to receive and complete the programme which you are currently undertaking.
“I think it is important you continue to receive the treatment that you are receiving.”
He said that if there was a failure to comply with the requirements of the order it could be revoked and the teenager could be sent to prison.
Advocate depute Jane Farquharson said the teenage offender was currently at a school where therapeutic work can take place.
The prosecutor said the teenager, a first offender, had had “a chaotic life” at his family home in Dundee and after making an allegation that he was assaulted by a family member was removed from the house.
The court heard that the first sex attack was witnessed by another child.
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