A woman using the toilets in an Angus supermarket was “extremely alarmed” to see a man’s head appear beneath her.
Bronislaw Cybulski fled the ladies’ cubicles in Tesco, Forfar, on February 20, pursued by the woman after she caught him looking under the partition.
Forfar Sheriff Court heard how the 53-year-old claimed he had taken ill and was unable to use the men’s toilets due to their state of cleanliness.
However, Sheriff Pino Di Emidio ruled his actions contained a “significant sexual element” and the Polish national was placed on the sex offenders register.
Cybulski, of Glenmoy Terrace, Forfar, previously admitted the charge of observing a woman during a private act by looking underneath a toilet cubicle.
His sentence had been deferred for criminal justice social work reports.
Depute fiscal Hannah Kennedy said the woman was fully clothed at the time.
“The complainer was 44 years old at the time of the incident,” she told the court.
“She was just about to flush the toilet when she saw the accused’s head appear under the partition between the cubicles. She reported the incident to counter staff.”
The police attended and took statements from both the complainer and the accused. Officers also took CCTV footage from the store.
Mrs Kennedy added that the footage “showed the accused leaving the toilets area in a hurry, pursued by the complainer.”
When the police asked why he had been in the female toilets, Cybulski said the men’s were “too dirty”.
Defending, solicitor Brian Bell said: “Mr Cybulski wishes to make it clear he accepts responsibility, he accepts it was an intentional action and he also accepts he looked under the dividing wall.
“He describes the act as one of stupidity but cannot explain the behaviour. He makes it clear there was no sexual element to his behaviour.”
Sheriff Di Emidio told Cybulski: “I consider I can properly infer that there was a significant sexual aspect to your behaviour. This was not simply an act of stupidity.”
Cybulski was given a community payback order with 120 hours of unpaid work to be completed within a year and a requirement to attend the Tay Project for those convicted of sexual offences for three years.
He was put on the sex offenders register for three years.