Trainee minister who tried to meet girl of 13 for sex
A THEOLOGY student who wanted to become a minister was caught in a paedophile-hunter sting as he tried to meet a schoolgirl.
Father- of- two Abu Isaac Shalom thought he was meeting a 13-year-old outside an Edinburgh supermarket.
He had been chatting online with who he believed was a youngster called Grace and had arranged to meet her with the intention of engaging in sexual activity last November.
But he was confronted by members of Maximum Exposure UK outside the Lidl store in the capital’s Granton area.
The paedophile hunters live-streamed the meeting to more than 3,000 viewers on their Facebook page, before calling in the police and handing over incriminating chat logs.
Shalom – a 31-year-old student of theology at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Divinity – was also in contact with ‘14-year-old Scarlett’ and had been sending the girl sexual messages.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told both online profiles had been set up by the Maximum Exposure group in March last year in a bid to snare online sexual predators.
Shalom, of South Bridge, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to two offences when he appeared in court. Sheriff Peter McCormack told him he was escaping a jail term ‘ by the skin of his teeth’ and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work. Shalom was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years.
The court previously heard Shalom had been chatting to ‘Grace’ online and arranged to meet the 13-year-old with the intention of having sex.
But soon after arriving at the store on November 3 last year he was confronted by the paedophile hunters.
Fiscal depute Ross Price also told the court the shamed
‘Spared jail by skin of his teeth’
father was in contact with 14-year-old ‘Scarlett’ and had sent her sexually explicit messages.
Yesterday, Leslie Cunningham, defending, said her client was due to return to India in March as his student visa is set to expire, but said he would extend it if placed on a community disposal.
Shalom pleaded guilty to travelling to meet who he believed was a 13-year-old girl called Grace with the intention of engaging in unlawful sexual activity with her on November 3 last year.
He also admitted sending sexual communications to who he believed was a 14-yearold girl for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification at his home address between October 22 and 31 last year.