Businessman in sex assault on teenage cleaner

COURT: 54-year-old consultant lunged at 18-year-old with a vibrating hand massager then grabbed her by waist as she was vacuuming bedroom at his family home

A 54-year-old business consultant pounced on a teenage cleaner with a battery operated vibrating massage device while she was in his bedroom.

Married Craig Sutherland has been placed on the sex offenders register after he admitted sexually assaulting the 18-year-old in his family home.

He was also fined £800 as sheriff Lindsay Foulis told him: “You were a middle-aged man, alone in the house and the incident takes place in the bedroom. The complainer is a teenager.

“The fact you were alone in the house will have raised her anxiety levels very, very significantly.”

Sutherland lured the teenager into sweeping under his marital bed and then lunged at her with the “hand massager”.

The consultant asked the cleaner if she had ever used one like it.

He then put it on her neck and grabbed her round the waist and spun her round before she managed to break free from his grasp.

Sutherland, of Broom Road, Kinross, admitted sexually assaulting the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, by placing “a hand massager or similar instrument” on her body in Kinross on September 23.

Depute fiscal Matthew Kerr told Perth Sheriff Court the woman was cleaning in Sutherland’s home.

“At one point the accused asked her if she could Hoover under the bed. She noted he had already moved furniture to make it easier for her.

“As she finished Hoovering within the bedroom, he showed her a hand massager and said ‘have you ever used one of these before?’

“She replied she hadn’t, and moved away,” Mr Kerr said.

“The accused placed it on her neck. This made her feel uncomfortable and she tried to step away.

“She observed the accused place a hand on her waist and he spun her round. She got the accused’s hand off her waist before pushing him off.

“He asked her to sit down and talk to him. As she left, he said ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me’.”

The woman was very upset when she reported what happened to her mother and Sutherland sent a text promising to avoid her in future.

Her mother reported the matter to the police .

The court was told that Sutherland confessed to his wife immediately and then she phoned the victim’s mother to discuss the incident.