Father’s car wash assault on schoolgirl leads to Royal Court conviction

Monday 12 February 2018

A father who downloaded provocative photos of a scantily clad teen washing cars two weeks before “rubbing against” his young son’s friend as she cleaned his vehicle has been sentenced to 180 hours’ community service.

The 46-year-old – known only as Mr R to protect the identity of the victim – pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault against a nine-year-old in the Royal Court in December.

The Court – presided by Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq and Jurats Geoffrey Grime and Robert Christensen – heard how the man groomed the girl over a significant period by taking her for walks with his dog and offering her sweets despite her parents’ wishes for her not to snack between meals.

His assaults were revealed when the girl told her mother that Mr R had given her what she described as a “married kiss.”

The first of the assaults – both of which were witnessed by neighbours – involved Mr R rubbing the girl’s leg outside as she wore a dress with bare skin showing. He argued, however, that he may have instead been petting his dog.

The second occurred as the little girl washed his car using a water gun. He was witnessed moving behind her as if to show her how to use the gun, but kept her in a “tight hold” for several minutes, moving around the car “like a dance.” A neighbour reported that it looked as if he had been rubbing against the girl “for his own sexual gratification.”

He was subsequently interviewed by Police, but was reported to have painted a picture of a child “starved of affection” and “over physically affectionate towards him”, who had imaginary friends and did not often tell the truth.

Giving evidence, the defendant’s former wife expressed her discomfort at Mr R’s relationship with the girl, but Advocate JC Turnbull argued on his behalf that this evidence should be discredited because the couple were no longer together.

In an earlier October hearing, Advocate Turnbull also argued for three other pieces of evidence to be discredited: seven sexually suggestive images of a teenage girl downloaded a fortnight before his offence; four indecent images of girls thought to be between nine and 15 years old; and a pornographic magazine entitled 18eighteen, featuring adult women dressed as schoolgirls.

The Court agreed to discredit the magazine on the basis that its purchase did not inherently suggest that Mr R had a sexual interest in under 16s.

On 15 December, Mr R was sentenced to 180 hours’ community service and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register. He was also banned from using devices able to access the internet without storing browsing history.

In a recently-published judgement, the Deputy Bailiff explained his decision not to send Mr R behind bars: “In our view we are at a turning point where, with the appropriate treatment and assistance, you can change the shape of your life and move away from what is a dangerous trajectory that you are on. Accordingly, we do think the public interest, as well as the appropriate disposal of this case, enable us to go to a non-custodial sentence.”