Pensioner warned to expect jail after years of child sex abuse

A pensioner who sexually abused three children over three decades has been told to expect prison for his crimes.

Victor Bawol, 76, targeted his victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at various locations in Dundee and Inverness-shire between September 1970 to April 2005.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Bawol was brought to justice after one of his victims overdosed on painkillers. The man recovered and told his girlfriend about what Bawol had done to him. She contacted the man’s mother who then contacted police.

Bawol, of Findcastle Place, Dundee, pled guilty before judge Lord Ericht to sexual assault charges.

The court heard that Bawol started abusing his first victim in September 1970. She was aged just five years old when Bawol assaulted her for the first time and the abuse continued until September 1979.

The accused then started assaulting his second victim in February 1992 at a location in Angus when she was five years old.

He then abused her at a property in Dundee and he continued to offend against her until February 1999.

Bawol’s third victim was a fiveyear-old boy who he assaulted at an address in Dundee in 1996. The boy was the son of Bawol’s first victim and he was abused for another nine years.

The court heard that the boy struggled to cope with what happened to him and he took an overdose in 2017.

Defence advocate Jonathan Crowe told the court that his client was in poor health and suffered from COPD, a lung disease.

Mr Crowe also said the accused was sorry for what he had done.

He added: “Mr Bawol is horrified by the horror and devastation that he has inflicted.”

Mr Crowe also asked the court to grant his client bail. But Lord Ericht refused bail and remanded him in custody. Deferring sentence for reports, Lord Ericht said: “A prison sentence is inevitable.”

Bawol will be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on March 8.