A charity worker who sexually assaulted a vulnerable and disabled young woman has been spared a jail sentence despite showing little remorse for the offence.
The victim was described in court as having physical and learning disabilities.
James Smith, 67, of Glenavon Drive, Cairneyhill, previously admitted that between July 1 and August 31 2009, at an unknown location on a journey between Glasgow and Dunfermline, he assaulted the female, instructed her to remove her upper clothing, took photographs of her naked upper body and kissed her.
Sheriff Charles Macnair said it was “very, very close to being an immediate custodial offence” but instead imposed a community payback order with two years of supervision and a restriction of liberty order for 243 days.
Smith was ordered not to contact his victim for two years and he will be on the sex offenders register for five years.
Despite pleading guilty, Smith told a social worker the victim had “fabricated the story in its entirety” and had shown no remorse, prompting defence solicitor Jonathan Matheson-Dear to call for another report at an earlier hearing.
Smith was back in the dock at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Wednesday and Mr Matheson-Dear said the new report “seems to suggest he may be struggling to come to terms with his guilt”.
The solicitor said Smith knew the victim through a friend of his and had asked her to go to Glasgow with him to look at art posters he was going to photograph in a shopping centre.
“He took her for a meal at McDonald’s and on the way back carried out the offence,” he said.
Mr Matheson-Dear said “the impact on the young victim” could only be speculated on but she “must have felt humiliation and embarrassment at what had happened”.
The solicitor said Smith looked after his wife who was in poor health. He did charity work for a group which collects unwanted items for the victims of Chernobyl and other disasters.