Court / Musician ordered to pay woman compensation after ‘disgraceful’ sexual assault

A MUSICIAN who committed an “utterly disgraceful” sexual assault on a woman in the middle of a busy Lerwick pub has been ordered to pay her compensation.

Nicol McLaren, of Blairgowrie, had previously appeared at Lerwick Sheriff Court to admit fondling the woman’s breasts on 28 January this year.

Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the 64-year-old was introduced to the woman by two people he knew in the pub after finishing compering at an event elsewhere in Lerwick.

After getting talking, McLaren groped her breasts and lifted them up as part of a “magic trick” – leaving the woman “extremely shocked”.

The woman felt “completely violated” and left by another exit before going home.

The court heard that the woman sought support from local services and then reported the incident to the police.

McLaren initially denied the incident happened, the court heard previously.

Speaking in mitigation, defence agent Tommy Allan said he wanted to convey “how sorry” his client was, “for what he did and the effect that this had”.

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“There was no intention on his part to cause upset or humiliation,” Allan said.

He added that this was “of course, a sexual assault” however, and said while McLaren might have tried to play it off as a joke at the time “he’s very much aware that it’s not funny now”.

McLaren did not want to minimise in any way the effect the incident had on his victim, Allan said, which he was “truly sorry for”.

He said the incident had a “truly devastating” effect on McLaren and his public standing too, adding that “some might say it’s deserved”.

The defence agent said a social work report on McLaren was “detailed and favourable”.

However Sheriff David Harvie said he had “concern about some elements of the report”.

McLaren “accepted some responsibility and did appear to regret” his actions, the sheriff read from the report.

But he questioned whether McLaren was only doing this to “protect” his “sense of self”.

He also pointed out that McLaren had “completely denied the offence” when first questioned.

The sheriff called McLaren’s behaviour “utterly disgraceful”, and said this had been a “contrived grab” which had left his victim “extremely shocked and upset”.

The attack had a “long-term profound impact” on the woman, the court was told.

Sheriff Harvie ordered McLaren to pay his victim £1,000 in compensation within the next nine months and placed him under supervision for a year.

He will also have to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work within the next six months, and will be placed on the sex offenders register for the next year.