Carer who put toddler through 16 months of abuse is spared jail
DAVID CAMPBELL
A remorseless Paisley carer who repeatedly abused a toddler was spared jail for the 16- month campaign of torment.
Michael Neilson, 66, was ordered to carry out 180 hours of community service for repeatedly abusing the boy when he was a youngster.
Neilson, of Neilston Road, Paisley, denied his guilt and went on trial at Paisley Sheriff Court earlier this year.
During the trial, social worker Shenaz Souter said the youngster, who can’t be named for legal reasons, tried to prevent her leaving him alone with Neilson.
Miss Souter, 28, said she was assigned to work with the boy and Neilson through her job as a social worker with Renfrewshire Council.
She said: “He had actually piled up lots and lots of toys and built them up against the front door to stop me getting through the door.
“He had done that on previous occasions.
“He was always really upset and I told him to use his words to tell me why he didn’t want me to leave.
“I would make sure the boy had settled and had stopped crying and was comforted before I left.”
Last month, Sheriff Craig Harris convicted Neilson of wilfully illtreating the boy, by repeatedly shouting, swearing and denigrating him, assaulting him at the Morrisons supermarket, in Johnstone, by punching him, behaving in a threatening or abusive way towards him by berating him and swearing at him in a taxi between Johnstone and Bridge of Weir, shouting at him and throwing toys, shouting at him in a medical practice and abusing council staff at Johnstone Town Hall.
Sheriff Harris said: “You were found guilty of engaging in a course of conduct in respect of the boy.
“That conduct clearly had an affect and did not only include verbal abuse. You have not shown a great deal of remorse and you do not accept your guilt – you need to accept it and you need to understand why what you did was wrong.”
He placed Neilson on a Community Payback Order which will see him supervised by social workers for the next two years.
He also has 12 months to complete 180 hours of unpaid work – “or other activity” – and was warned he could still be jailed if he fails to comply.