A CO Antrim pensioner who indecently assaulted a young girl has been jailed.
Robert George David Anderson (76), of Prospect Crescent, Carrickfergus, was found guilty by a jury of a total of five offences.
At the end of his Belfast Crown Court trial in April, the jury found the former Merchant Navy seaman guilty of four counts of indecent assault on the female child and one offence of digital penetration.
It was the prosecution case that the offences took place on dates between May 1993 and November 1997.
The victim at the time was aged between seven and 11 and the defendant was aged in his mid to late 40s.
The court heard Anderson would let the girl play in his garden with a male friend who was younger than her and would give them sweets and chocolate. The jury heard he took the victim swimming to Carrick Leisure Centre and indecently assaulted in the pool.
On another occasion when she visited his home, he invited her onto his lap and indecently assaulted her.
In a further incident, the jury was told the victim fell on his driveway and he brought her into the kitchen and assaulted her.
The prosecution said that after that incident she never returned to Anderson’s home and only spoke to police in 2019 about the sexual touching.
Anderson was subsequently interviewed by detectives and denied the allegations.
In a pre-sentence report, the Probation Board said Anderson still does not accept responsibility for his behaviour.
He also denied having any sexual attraction to children and claimed he was the victim.
The probation officer assessed Anderson as a low priority category for supervision when he is released from prison but added he did not pose a danger to the public in the future.
Defence counsel Brian McCartney KC told the court on Tuesday that Anderson suffers from severe psoriasis, mental health issues along with depression.
He said he had furnished the court with a reference from a retired solicitor who said that in all her years of practice she had never heard any “adverse remarks’' about Anderson towards children.
The court heard Anderson had been in the Merchant Navy for 15 years before he was medically discharged in 1989 aged 42 and never worked again.
Judge Gordon Kerr KC said the victim “was a very young girl and the defendant was a mature man and these were a series of offences as opposed to one individual offence’‘.
Judge Kerr said in determining the appropriate sentence he was taking into account Anderson’s physical and mental issues and his clear criminal record.
An18 month sentence was imposed and Anderson was placed on the sex offenders register for a period of ten years and also made the subject of a five year restraining order on his victim.