Man took advantage of teenage girl for sex

Days before 16th birthday

An engineering student “took advantage” of a Perth schoolgirl“for his own sexual gratification.”

Perth Sheriff Court was told that Paolo Panes Jo, now 23 and originally from the Philippines, persuaded the teenager to send him a picture of herself in the shower.

He then forwarded photographs of his own private parts before having sex with the girl just days before her 16th birthday.

Sheriff William Wood said he had given “serious consideration” to jailing the accused after he lied about his age, claiming he was just 19 when he was in fact 21 at the time.

The sheriff pointed out that the legislation was there to “protect children” but because he was a first offender, he escaped with a Community Payback Order.

Jo, of Hermitage Drive, Perth, will have to carry out the maximum 300 hours of unpaid work within the next nine months and will be supervised by a social worker for the next three years.

His name will also remain on the Sex Offenders’ Register for three years.

Imposing the order, Sheriff Wood told him: “Clearly you took advantage of this girl for your own sexual gratification.

“It’s a very serious matter and shouldn’t be underestimated.”

He admitted having sex with the under-age girl at a house in Perth’s Rannoch Road on July 20, 2016, and meeting with her the same day with the intention of engaging in unlawful sexual activity.

He also pled guilty to a third charge of asking her on Facebook Messenger to send him naked images of herself, for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification or of humiliating, distressing or alarming her, and also asking her to have sex, between July 11 and 19, 2016.

Depute fiscal John Malpass said the accused is a student at Dundee’s Abertay University and now lives with his mother and her partner.

The messaging incident took place 11 days before she was 16 while he had sex with her just four days before that birthday.

Jo first contacted her on Facebook on or about July 10, 2016, when she informed him she was “only 16 in a couple of weeks.”

He asked for a photograph of her in the shower and she sent that via Snapchat. In return, the complainer requested that the accused send her a picture of his penis, which he did.

On July 20, he took her to his then address in Rannoch Road where they twice had consensual intercourse.

However, Jo cut off contact after the girl asked if he had a sexually transmitted disease.

The complainer felt depressed and confused about the incident and contacted a teacher at her school.

Solicitor Mike Tavendale said that his client, who had come to this country when he was 15, had previously been in a two-and-a-halfyear relationship but that come to an end.

Mr Tavendale said it had always been Jo’s intention to plead guilty to that charge.

The lawyer added: “It might be regarded, in the scheme of things, that perhaps these things are at the lower end of such offending.”

The accused, who sat in the dock with his head bowed during part of the proceedings, had the support of his close family and they were present in court.

Imposing the Community Payback Order, Sheriff Wood told the accused: “It’s to be hoped you will have learned from this and won’t come to the attention of the law again for anything similar.”